The Clock, by Swiss-American artist Christian Marclay, is a 24-hour video installation composed of thousands of film and television fragments that reference specific times of the day.

For the exhibition foyer at the Instituto Moreira Salles in São Paulo–as part of the opening of its new building–the communication design was conceived as a contemporary interpretation of vintage cinema façades, with three-dimensional letters supported by horizontal shelves. The GT Haptik typeface was chosen for two main reasons: first, its geometric letterforms–especially the “O,” which was cut and transformed into a C, slightly rotated in both occurrences of the word “CLOCK,” as a subtle reference to the passage of time. Second, for the absence of optical corrections (overshoots) in its capital letters, which made the physical assembly of the signage easier. In addition, a tabloid was produced with the same visual identity, featuring curatorial texts and an interview with the artist.

Instituto Moreira Salles, 2017
Photos: Pedro Vannucci/IMS