Artist Project / Dead Space
Always 10:10
Tom Dale
As a rule, advertising likes to escape the grip of reality at every turn. So it seems incongruous that clocks appear in the background of so many ads. Intriguingly, this time is consistently 10:10 AM or PM, proposing the abstract concept of a standard or “good” time when all that is desired might be attained. What at first glance appeared to be a common denominator of publicity in glossy English lifestyle magazines and business periodicals soon revealed itself to be the mean time of international advertising as well.
It has been suggested that the root of this trope lies in its formal similarity to a comforting smile, the welcoming face of the future that acknowledges us, and all that we desire. However, as my collection of ads accumulated, their growing complexity revealed not an image of the future, but rather one of an endless present illuminated only by the flicker of difference without change.
![An advertisement in Japanese with three people holding clocks in front of their faces.](/issues/47/cabinet_047_dale_tom_001.jpg)
![An advertisement for Christopher Ward watches depicting the watch in front of military planes.](/issues/47/cabinet_047_dale_tom_002.jpg)
![An advertisement for Diesel Island depicting an archer in jean jacket with a big yellow watch.](/issues/47/cabinet_047_dale_tom_003.jpg)
![An advertisement for an IWC dive watch with the title “Great Barrier Chief.”](/issues/47/cabinet_047_dale_tom_004.jpg)
![An advertisement for Patek Philippe depicting a father and son.](/issues/47/cabinet_047_dale_tom_005.jpg)
![An advertisement for Hermès, which juxtaposes a horse saddle and leather watch strap.](/issues/47/cabinet_047_dale_tom_006.jpg)
![An Italian Rolex advertisement juxtaposing the watch and the 24 Hours of Le Mans race.](/issues/47/cabinet_047_dale_tom_007.jpg)
![A Rolex advertisement featuring a watch with a lightning-bolt second hand.](/issues/47/cabinet_047_dale_tom_008.jpg)
![An advertisement for a clock that plays bird sounds and songs.](/issues/47/cabinet_047_dale_tom_009.jpg)
![An advertisement for a pawnbroker who melts watches down into gold.](/issues/47/cabinet_047_dale_tom_010.jpg)
Tom Dale is a London-based artist. He is currently completing his PhD at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. Venues for recent and forthcoming solo exhibitions include CAN, Neuchâtel, France (2012); Poppy Sebire, London (2013); Artworks MK, Milton Keynes, UK (2013); and John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK (2014).