The Dragon Chronophage - a work of contemporary art embodying a unique display of time – has been unveiled at the prestigious Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair which runs from 7-9 September 2012.
Created by award-winning inventor-designer Dr John C Taylor OBE to celebrate the Chinese Year of The Dragon, the piece is a remarkable mixture of contemporary design, precision engineering and engaging whimsy. It fuses traditional horology with unexpected mechanical innovation and vast size with extreme delicacy of movement, whilst telling the time with absolute exactness and breathtaking unpredictability.
Dr John C Taylor created the concept of the Chronophage as a personal homage to John Harrison, the creator of the most accurate clock in the world. In the 1720’s, Harrison started his inventive development of his marine chronometer which allowed the first accurate calculations of longitude at sea and a mechanism for controlling clocks which he called the ‘grasshopper’. Dr Taylor decided to turn this grasshopper escapement inside out, so that the mechanism could be seen working, and to increase its size from 35mm to become the world’s largest grasshopper escapement.
Dr John C Taylor OBE explains; “I would say only 1% of people have heard of John Harrison, one of the greatest Englishmen that ever lived, and of these, only 1% would know about the grasshopper escapement. As most people don’t know how it works, I decided to make it big and put it on the outside as a celebration of Harrison’s genius.”
The Chronophage takes its name from the Greek for “time eater”. The face of the Chronophage bears a 24-carat gold-plated steel disk 1.5 metres in diameter and is polished to resemble a pond of liquid metal with ripples that allude to the Big Bang flowing out from the centre of the Universe. It presents a new way of showing time whilst being a true mechanical clock – behind each hour, minute and second are continuously illuminated LED lights and a series of fixed and rotating slits. Only when two slits are in line is that particular hour, minute or second illuminated on the dial, giving the impression of time racing around the dial.
The Dragon Chronophage’s distinguishing feature is a moving dragon which houses the grasshopper escapement and sits above it appearing to walk forwards to feed itself by eating time. The design of the creature is an Anglo-Chinese co-operation based on sculpture produced by Professor Long of Hangzhou Art University. Dr Taylor’s ‘Dragon’ feature required cooperation from 8 specialist designers from Cambridge University with his team in the Isle of Man over an 18-month period; a complex process of design, construction and finish to ensure a naturalistic, fluid and believable outcome. Over 59 seconds it slowly opens its mouth snapping up the minute in the last second. Its tongue extends on the hour and out rolls a pearl – a Chinese symbol of good fortune. Upon closing its mouth and swallowing the pearl, it causes a ripple down its spine all the way to its tail.
The Dragon Chronophage is a unique work art, of which only a limited number will be made; it follows the first two Chronophage designs - the Corpus Chronophage, now a major attraction in Cambridge, England, and the Midsummer Chronophage, which is being exhibited in the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh until January 2013.
