Screen Time Forum

2022
https://screentimeclock.forum.nl/

Screen Time Forum is a community clock connecting people through their mobile backgrounds. Participants are invited to take part by making a screenshot of their mobile device lock screen and submitting it to the corresponding time slot on the website. The submitted images are then compiled and presented, each being displayed for the single minute at which they were taken. The outcome is a clock that each minute reveals a glimpse into someone else’s life.

Screen Time Forum is a new development of the Screen Time project I created in 2019, which until now only existed online. This new physical version designed for the Forum, a multifunctional public building in Groningen, will allow the brief one-minute windows into someone's life to be even more public.

The digital 24 hour slide show of peoples phone screens is shown on a 75 inch screen which is placed in the middle of a typical public space giant clock face. Instead of the hands ticking, the public submissions will flick past each minute and tell anyone looking what time it is.

Commissioned by: Forum Groningen
Concept: Helmut Smits
Production: Arttenders and Niek Mager
Software development: Jan Misker
Graphic design: g2k
Screen Time Forum was made possible by the Traders' Association Groningen anno 1847 and the Mondriaan Fund.

Photos by Lotte Stekelenburg