Feeling My Age

Earlier this year I was stopped in my tracks by the sight of this clock in London’s Science Museum, which is almost the twin of one I’d seen in Cambridge a few months previously. How many of these scary mechanical sculptures could there be? Just the two, it turns out – according to johnctaylor.com:

“Named The Midsummer Chronophage because it was first exhibited on 23 June 2010, the creature on top of this clock appears battle-hardened with leathery, spiked skin and weathered limbs.”

“It walks relentlessly above the face. The wings rock backwards and forwards, together with the haltares (evolved from wings and now used to help balance). The bulbous eye blinks randomly.”

“The Chronophage’s mouth opens slowly, suddenly snapping shut every 60 seconds to bite off the minute just passed. With glowing tongue lolling, the creature appears to masticate while digesting time.”

“On the quarter hour the forked tail stings, quivers and slowly sinks. On the strike of each hour, the number of stings matches the unearthly chimes.”

Chronophage literally means “time eater” – from the Greek “Chronos” (time) and “phago” (eat) apparently – and this shockwave version can be downloaded as a free desktop app or screensaver.

However the Corpus Chronophage [More]