The Clock review – 'The longer you watch it, the more addictive it becomes'

Christian Marclay’s epic work – a clock created from film clips that tells the actual time – ought to be bleak. But time really does fly when you watch this 24-hour miracle

It’s 8.10am and I’m late for my appointment at Tate Modern. I watch the faces of passengers as the train pulls into London Bridge. It’s a Monday and the time is going too fast. One man sweats as he checks his watch. On his way to a bank heist, perhaps.

I didn’t think any of that on my train at the time, though. I revisited my journey after sinking into a white sofa and watching The Clock, Christian Marclay’s epic montage of film clips featuring clockfaces that tells the actual time. Only then, gazing at the cinema screen that’s been built at Tate Modern, did I understand that everyone on a rush-hour train is united by something magical: we’re all sharing the same instant in time.

Related: 'It's impossible!' – Christian Marclay and the 24-hour clock made of movie clips

You slow to the pace of a stopped train or speed to the ticking of a time bomb

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