The Fired Assistant's Revenge: A Rant on Christian Marclay's 'The Clock'

In a first-person essay published on Artillery Magazine, a former assistant to Christian Marclay recounts being fired from the production of Marclay's 24-hour art film 'The Clock' (2010) for sourcing too many horror films. The assistant, identified only as 'Ted,' claims he was hired to find clips of clocks and watches from movies but was dismissed after a few weeks for including violent scenes like gunshots and beheadings. Marclay instructed him to seek 'the banal and plain' and 'nothing outlandish.' The essay criticizes 'The Clock' for ignoring the truth that 'time is death' and argues that horror cinema captures this reality. The film, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2011, is currently screening again at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) as part of a contractual obligation requiring exhibiting institutions to show it every ten years. The assistant now works in IT near Heathrow Airport and reflects on the monotony of his current job. The essay blends personal grievance with philosophical musings on time, boredom, and mortality.