As the secondhand turns around The Hummingbird Clock like a seismograph it draws the line of the UK's fluctuating mains current and this pattern of fluctuation is being recorded and archived every second 24/7.
The Hummingbird Clock, 2016
Permanent installation and website, Dimensions variable,
The Hummingbird Clock is a new kind of public timepiece that exists both physically as a permanent sculpture and online as a website. Opposite Liverpool’s law courts, a tree of binoculars resembling CCTV cameras keeps watch over the Town Hall’s clock. It is designed as a tool for investigations into civil and human rights violations and state corruption: specifically it records second-by-second variations in the buzz made by the electrical grid that for more than ten years the UK government has utilized as a surveillance tool. Nearly all recordings made within earshot of this almost-silent humming can be forensically analyzed to determine their time and date, and whether the recording has been edited or otherwise altered. This technique has so far only ever been used by the state, but it can now be accessed by anyone who might need it, making Abu Hamdan’s work a form of countersurveillance.
If you need to know the exact time an audio or video recorded event took place in the UK after 7 July 2016 please visit: www.hummingbirdclock.info
This installation was commissioned by the Liverpool Biennial, United Kingdom, (2016).
"Watching the watchers"
Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s 'Hummingbird Clock' is a new kind of public time piece that exists physically, opposite Liverpool’s law courts in Derby Square, and online. It is designed as a tool for investigations into civil and human rights violations and state corruption: recording the second by second variations in the buzz made by the electrical grid, and making that publicly available to anyone who might need it.
For over 10 years, the UK government has been using this humming sound as a surveillance tool. Nearly all recordings made within earshot of this almost-silent humming can be forensically analysed to determine time and date, and whether the recording has been edited or altered. This technique has, so far, only ever been used by the state, but it can now be accessed by anyone who might need it at www.hummingbirdclock.info.
Hummingbird Clock can be visited at Derby Square and online throughout the Biennial. The free festival of contemporary art takes places across the city’s public spaces, unused buildings and galleries from 9 July until 16 October.
Find out more at biennial.com
Film by Carl Davies, FACT Video Production Services