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The Green Room by Glithero

Exhibition / Installation

V&A Project

17 — 25 Sept 2016

Victoria & Albert Museum

Cromwell Road

London

SW7 2RL

The Green Room was a monumental installation at the V&A. Conceived by London design studio Glithero for London Design Festival 2016 in partnership with luxury watch maker Panerai, its aim was to change visitors perceptions of what a clock can be.

Taking the watchmaker’s central premise of ‘time’ as the inspiration, the designers created a kinetic suspended piece. “We wanted to create a time piece that people could be inside of,” said British designer Tim Simpson, founder of Studio Glithero alongside Dutch designer Sarah van Gameren. “This clock is an interactive experience rather than something you glance at.” Renowned for their mesmerising, time-based mechanical installations, Glithero created a cylindrical curtain made up of 160 multicoloured silicone cords that wrapped around a six storey stairwell on the west side of the museum, a dramatic space that benefits from a tall classical domed ceiling and plentiful daylight thanks to its large windows. Taking full advantage of the stairwell’s 17.5 metre drop, the silicone cords were looped over a 3.2 metre-diameter ring that was clearly visible for all to see within the stairwell’s dome. Each cord was connected to a central rotating cam arm that turned at a rate of one revolution per minute. One by one the strings were lifted, slowly rising 2.5 metres from their starting point before returning back down again, creating the effect of parabolic motion. The result was an immersive wave of colour that could be first encountered at ground level, just a little over head height. Supported by Panerai.