Though the day is called 'Sensing Time: The Art and Science of Clocks and Watches' I won't be talking about either clocks or watches! Instead I will focus on the 'mechanical' aspects of diagrams of historic time. Here is the blurb for the day:
Time is of the essence. This truth is visible, tangible and audible in the masterpieces of horology in collections across the globe. This interdisciplinary study day will bring together international expertise from curators, makers and conservators. It will explore the different priorities for collecting clocks and watches from exquisite decoration, to materials, mechanics and technological innovation.
It looks like a superb array of presentations and speakers. Here is the outline:
- 10.20 Introduction and Welcome Matty Pye, Department of Learning V & A
- 10.30 Stillness or Movement: Sight and Touch Chair: Tessa Murdoch, Deputy Keeper Sculpture, Metalwork, Ceramics and Glass V&A
- Making Time: How to make a clock or watch Anna-Rose Kirk and James Harris, Independent clock makers
- An Eighteenth-Century Astronomical Clock Peter Plaßmeyer, Director Mathematisch-Physikalischer Salon, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
- The Henlein Watch: an iconic timepiece taken apart Thomas Eser, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
- 11.50 Sound and Rhythm: Hearing Chair: Bill Sherman, Director of Research and Collections, V&A
- Pyke organ clock restoration Malcolm Archer and Matthew Read, West Dean
- Bells and the rhythms of urban life Paul Glennie, University of Bristol
- Different types of striking in domestic clocks Oliver Cooke, Curator Horology, British Museum
- 13.00 Lunch Break
- 14.00 Making sense of the passage of time Chair: Marek Kukula, Public Astronomer, Royal Observatory Greenwich
- Times change: two Augsburg Clocks in the Gilbert Collection Heike Zech, Senior Curator, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection, V&A
- Signs of Astrology on early modern clock and watch dials Jane Desborough, Curator, Science Museum
- Narratives of time: timelines Stephen Boyd Davis, School of Design, Royal College of Art, London
- 15.20 Refreshments
- 15.50 Beyond the senses: Collecting Time Chair: Tim Boon, Head of Research, Science Museum
- Collecting time, presenting time in the Kunstkammer Vienna Paulus Rainer, Deputy Director, Kunstkammer, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
- 16.30 Discussion and Q&A
- 17.00 Close
Date
Saturday 18 June, 10.00 – 17.00
Venue
The Lydia & Manfred Gorvy Lecture Theatre
More event information here.
