What's the Deal with that Union Square... Clock... Thing?

Seriously, what's the deal with that "clock" in Union Square with all the numbers? No one I know has ever been able to puzzle out. I can see the time in it, but the other numbers don't seem to make any sense!

Thanks!
Marty

Things every New Yorker contemplates at least once: Is that purse real or a knock off? Who makes the best burger? Does the G train really exist? What's up with those numbers on the side of that wacky building south of Union Square?

We know the answer to at least one of these questions.

The short answer is that those numbers are part of an art installation. It was designed in 1999 by Kristen Jones and Andrew Ginzel, and it's called The Metronome. And the numbers are a clock, and we, too, have wasted a lot of time staring at it, trying to figure it out.

The artists say it's "an investigation into the nature of time."

From the official Union Square website:

How to read the clock – the Metronome -- on the art wall at 1 Union Square South? The 15 numbers of the digital clock display time going and coming relative to midnight. Read time going left to right and time coming in the opposite direction. So, if the clock reads 070437000235616 it means that it is 7:04 A.M. (7 hours and 04 minutes since midnight) and that there are 16 hours, 56 minutes and 23 seconds remaining until midnight. The three numbers in between are a blur of moving numbers.

Mystery solved! For more pictures and information, check out the artists' website. We can't really help you with the G train, though.

Photo by Kristen Jones and Andrew Ginzel

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Erin O'Brien in Miscellaneous on March 11, 2005 12:29 PM

Comments [rss]

smitty

i don't think it really smokes much anymore. I know they turned the smoke off for obvious reasons after September 11th.

uhrrrrrrr

the G is a crosstown serving Brooklyn and Queens, you midwestern Faux-Yorkers

Doug

Jon Graf, the plaque beneath does refer to Metronome, but it does not say anything about the LED being a clock.

Andrew Hearst

Years ago a friend referred to that building as "One Anus Plaza," and I've called it that ever since.

chimpie

Mr. & Mrs. Maller - Well I guess that makes it official then if other people are coming up with the same name. Chimpie, Mr. & Mrs. Maller shall be jointly credited with coining the name "The Smoking Bunghole" for this building. I suggest that in the year 2008, after this appelation is commonly known to all new yorkers that a ceremonialy plaque be adhered to the building officially designating it as the Smoking Bunghole Building.

Joe Maller

Chimpie, I thought my wife and I were the only ones calling that thing "Smoking Bunghole". But I guess it's just so obvious I should have figured we weren't alone. The lunar component is beautiful in an understated way, too bad about the rest of it.

In Tilted Arc, there's hope.

Think2wice

Notice how it's aligned down the center of Park Avenue South and is bookended by Grand Central Terminal.

That's what I love about the street grid. How it inadverdantly creates malls & causeways that bustle with streetlife and landmarked with symbolic terminals & junctions like Washinton Square, Grand Army Plaza (in B'klyn and M'nhtn), and the Williamsburg Bank tower.

I wish there was something more notable at the southern end of Madison Avenue.

Daryl

Here you can see a diagram of the clock and what each number means: http://daryllang.com/d103/archive/2005/01/30/284/

Jon Graf

Not to be a dick or anything, but there is a plaque underneath the Metronome that explains what it is. I guess like real New Yorkers would be too embarassed to be caught reading a plaque on a building...

chimpie

I've always referred to this building as 'the smoking bunghole.' It is a useful landmark when meeting friends or giving directions - "meet me in front of the smoking bunghole" or "go one block east of the smoking bunghole" etc. I think I have given out enough directions that many people are adopting this moniker and eventually the whole town will refer to it affectionatly as the smoking bunghole.

KeithS

What with the Union Square clock, the fire thingies, and the Jetsons building, Gothamist has made this city a great deal more coherent for me this week.

tien

Keith, the Ask Gothamist answer to your question.

MY

Kieth: Those are indicators that there is a fire alarm on the lamp pole. Aftr reading it here, I totally added it to my useless cocktail party banter repertoire.

stephanie

My respect for my big sis exponentially increased when she figured it out after thinking about it for maybe a minute.

jash

really? none of your friends could figure it out?

i'd seriously consider trading up for some more intelligent friends.

KeithS

"This is even more revelatory than the those glowing sticks on top of street lamps!"

What are the deals with those? There's one about 10 feet outside my front window, and I've wasted a lot of time trying to reason its purpose.

ping

worst. art. ever.

tien

bing, those are for cell phone reception.

Captain Obvious

The thing is universally called one of the worst and at almost parody levels piece of public art ever created in the design world.

bing

Also, what are those things that look like speakers you see on rooftops? I've seen them in enough different neighborhoods to think they have to be something.