Out of Focus
Status
Temporary
Category
In storage
Since
16-07-2016
Explanation
Everyone knows the Zebra Clock that for decades indicated the time in the square in front of Central Station. When construction work started on the station square in the summer of 2016, the clock was removed as a precaution. It has since been in municipal yard in the Binckhorst. Only the work took much longer than planned. In the meantime, a large bicycle shed has been constructed under the square, which will be in use by 2020. On top of that will be another sizable apartment complex with two residential towers. Due to rising material prices and an uncertain housing market, the start of its construction has already been postponed several times. Meanwhile, the clock itself patiently awaits its return to Queen Juliana Square. For that is how the new and greener station square will be called in the future.
Image
Artwork Data
Artwork Location
Address
Koningin Julianaplein, Den Haag
City district
Centrum
GPS data
52.0818148175704, 4.32317719041312 View on map
Artwork Description
Text
For decades, many hurried travellers have still managed to catch their train, thanks to the clearly visible, striped clock on the square in front of Central Station. Although it has been gone for a few years now, it is still engraved in everyone's memory. In 1975, designer/artist Jaap Karman was commissioned by the municipality of The Hague and Dutch Railways to design a monumental clock. It was unveiled two years later. It was immediately given the nickname Zebra Clock.
Due to a short circuit, the clock soon suffered severe fire damage. The high repair costs almost caused it to be demolished. The Friends of The Hague felt that the city could not do without its zebra clock and took action. By 1988, the clock had been restored to its former glory. In view of all the renovations in and around the Central Station, the bell has been at the municipal workshop since 2016. It is intended to return, once the square is completed.
Even though the monumental clock bears the nickname Zebra Clock, the animal was not Karman's starting point. Apart from indicating the time, the black stripes are there to counterbalance the chaos of vertical and horizontal lines on and around the square. Precisely because they are regularly distributed across the picture plane, the clock distinguishes itself from its busy surroundings.
The fact that the clock is made up of two pyramids - with their undersides against each other - is typical of Karman. All his spatial works are composed of robust geometric forms. Three circular dials protrude through the pyramids. Pyramids and dials are made of perspex and stand on a steel pole. More than six metres above the square, the work of art not only breaks the jumble of lines, but even functions as a point of rest in the busy environment. This effect is even stronger when the lights in the clock are switched on at night.