AN OLD clock from Brechin Town Hall forms the centrepiece of a new modern art exhibition in Dundee.
Dundee University fine arts student Jessica Ramm used the 18th-century timepiece as the basis for her degree show exhibit at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design.
The clock face has been removed, and instead of being used to tell the time, the display – entitled Dispersal – features tiny metal mechanisms which peck away at bronze orbs and glass bulbs.
Miss Ramm said the exhibit was intended to symbolise an endless productivity and compulsive communication.
The clock, made by John Drummond, of Brechin, in 1790, worked for about 200 years, and could be heard by prisoners awaiting deportation in cells below the town hall. Miss Ramm, of Perth Road, Dundee, said its past appealed to her interest in history and mythology.
She said: “For me, things that have a history have more worth as objects than new things. I'm very interested in creating works that act out mythology. The clock has a real sense of history, and the town hall used to contain a courthouse and jail. The thought that prisoners once sat listening to the clock ticking away while waiting to find out their fate, or to be deported, was something that interested me.”
She said she had her artist parents to thank for helping her get her hands on the clock.
“They are always collecting stuff that they think might be interesting,” she said.
“The clock was going to be thrown out because it didn't work properly any more, but my parents heard about this and rescued it. It has been in our sitting room for a couple of years, and I have had it in my mind all that time that it might feature in my work.”
She added: “I have done a lot of oiling and fiddling around with little pieces of the mechanism.
“Once the clock is wound up and begins to peck away at the bell jars, and the whole thing comes to life it is worth it as this piece is really quite precious to me.”