How To Go To SFMOMA For Cheap(ish) And Treat It Like A Movie Theater

Melting clocks unlikely to be found in The Clock.

If you’re anything like me, you like museums in theory but the admission is waaaaayyyy unaffordable and it always makes you feel kind of drowsy anyway, so whenever those headliner exhibits of Warhol or Matisse come around, you just look at pictures on the internet instead and feel satisfied enough to hold your ground in case someone brings up the exhibit in person.

Well, the SFMOMA is closing for three years in June (their website says two and a half but who are we kidding?), which still doesn’t make shelling $18 out of your broke-ass pocket worth it, but, BUT, they have this awesome video installation on until then. The Clock by Christian Marclay takes film clips from all times, all genres, all countries – the only stipulation is that the clip contains a clock. Marclay stitched all these clips together and made his own damn clock (how’s that for cheap?) that runs for 24 hours. A 24-hour clip show! Chances are, most of the movies in The Clock will be unfamiliar, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be mesmerizing. Sometimes the same movie reoccurs (think hostage or bomb threat), sometimes the same actors reoccur (please let it be Kevin Bacon!), and sometimes Marclay weaves together themes (besides time, duh) that make you think, “whoa, this is art”: a set of clips where people are cutting meat, or shootout scenes; anything could give you pause and make you wonder what this crazy thing called time is.

So, because The Clock is a 24-hour piece, and we wouldn’t want to deprive the artist of having his full piece shown, the MOMA is putting on a few 24-hour showings, and admission after 6 (when the rest of the museum is closed) is $10 only. It will probably require waiting in a somewhat lengthy line (the “theater” seats 81 and you kind of just have to wait till people get bored and leave) but hey, you have all night. That’s worth the price of admission, right?

Christian Marclay’s The Clock
Every Saturday/ Sunday in May (and June 1)
6:00 p.m.-11:00 a.m ($10 time periods)
SFMOMA
151 3rd Street (@ Minna)  
[South of Market]
SF
Cost: $10