Pied Bull Yard Clock takes centre stage at ‘Minutes in Blue’ exhibition

From the look of it, the Pied Bull Yard Clock would appear to be a work of Victorian fancy, a whimsical piece of ‘Art for art’s sake’ concealing a complex arrangement of mechanical elements many modern clockmakers would find difficult to understand.

In reality, it is no older than the mixed-use development it marks out from the street front, a curiosity of late-twentieth-century nostalgia (or anti-modernism) built in a London workshop and installed circa 1988.

Raphaé Memon is one of many passers by who have stopped awhile to take a look at the clock on their way to work. At first glance, it was a rather ordinary – if ornate – timekeeping device, elevated from the street on classically influenced brackets. On closer inspection, it revealed itself as something more compelling; something to think about on an art-critical level; as a material manifestation of the passing of time, representing modern life through a new historicist’s lens.

To the top of the casing, it is possible to discern two construction workers in high-visibility jackets ready and waiting to strike the bell. Towards the bottom, a circular track rotates on a clockwise circle, bringing together a bull, a bank clerk, a police officer, and a punk in an unerring chase. It is the most unlikely combination of characters and yet this makes it all the more thought-provoking.

One interpretation is that the clock makes reference to the curious anecdotal history that has surrounded the origins of Pied Bull Yard since its renaming in 1827, and that the figures are not only running from the Spanish bull, but trying to grasp its etymology. While the rather Victorian-looking bank clerk might assume associations with Defoe’s favourite tavern, as was so often noted at the time, those in dress reminiscent of the 1930s, the 1970s, and the 1980s could toy with any of the other theories that succeeded it – agricultural theories and equestrian ones; theories about blood sport, and theories about the local publishing trade – theories rooted in wonder and curiosity, which emerged frequently as part of the campaign to save the streets between The British Museum and Holborn Station from demolition in the 1980s.

For Raphaé, the intent of the designer is interesting to think about, but irrelevant insofar as the process of perception (and reception) is concerned. On a personal level, it evoked the cuckoo clocks of the German Black Forest in which he had taken a creative and academic interest, and the commitment to individuality through craftsmanship which he understands them to embody. It represents a sensitive approach to development which pays credence to detail, and avoids taking the wrecking ball to the cultural fabric accrued over historical time.

The Pied Bull Yard Clock serves as the principal source of inspiration for Raphaé’s upcoming exhibition, ‘Minutes in Blue’, which constructs a meaningful association between time, wonder, and the semiotic quality of the clock. Here he makes references to the ‘blue hour’ to communicate ideas about time, clocks, and storytelling within an ear’s distance of its resounding bell.

Take a look at our exhibition archive for other references to this considered piece of design.