Between December 21 and January 21, 2013, Christian Marclay’s 24-hour video collage timepiece “The Clock” will screen continuously in a 130-seat theater built in the Museum of Modern Art’s contemporary art galleries. The beloved artwork’s MoMA debut will include four all-night screenings when the museum will be open for 24 continuous hours on January 4-5, January 11-12, January 18-19, and New Year’s Eve.

Per the artist’s wish viewers of the video, which features thousands of clips from films in which the time of day is either shown or discussed arranged in such a way as to constitute a real-time clock, will not be required to pay extra admission beyond MoMA’s standard ticket prices. However, as anyone who attempted to sneak into Paula Cooper Gallery in the middle of the night when the work made its New York debut last year or squeeze into Lincoln Center’s presentation of the piece this summer knows, first-come first-served seating will go very quickly.

To accommodate the inevitable queue, MoMA promises in today’s exhibition announcement to provide live updates on the duration of anticipated waiting times via its website and main Twitter account, @MuseumModernArt. MoMA is one of the lucky institutions to have acquired the blockbuster video art piece after collectors Jill and Peter Kraus promised it to the Museum in 2011.

— Benjamin Sutton

(Image: Christian Marclay. Detail of “The Clock.” 2010. Single-channel video with sound, 24 hours. © Christian Marclay. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, and White Cube, London. Photo: Todd-White Photography.)

Tags: Benjamin Sutton, christian marclay, Museum of Modern Art, the clock