Impressive in both size and cultural implication, the monumental brass Peace Clock stretches 17ft in diameter and will be soon be mounted prominently on the east side of Manhattan in Trygve Lie Plaza. The artwork is in constant dialogue with the site itself, named after the Norwegian politician Trygve Halvdan Lie who served as the first Secretary General of the United Nations from 1946-1952. The kinetic sculpture was commissioned by the Royal Norwegian Consulate General and the Lie family, and acts as a continuation of Lie’s commitment to conflict resolution and non-violent peacekeeping during his time in office.

One arm of the clock rotates with the hours and at 4:30 and 16:30, forms a peace symbol signifying international nuclear disarmament. The placement of the artwork will ensure that it is highly visible both to pedestrians and to those working daily across the street in the UN offices. Evocative and urgent, Peace Clock serves as both a memorial to the past and a reminder that there is still much work left to be done.

To learn more, visit the official Norwegian site for the United States, here, and the website for the government of New York City, here.

In November of last year Lina Viste Grønli presented Tinging, the inaugural exhibition at Kunsthall Stavanger and the first major presentation of Grønli’s work in her hometown. Read an interview with the artist on the Kunsthall Stavanger website, here.

Lina Viste Grønli (b. 1976, Bergen) lives and works in Boston, USA. She has exhibited at MAK – Museum for Applied Art, Wien; Marres Centre for Contemporary Culture, Maastricht; Wiels Contemporary Art Centre, Brussel; Performa 09, New York; Sunday Art Fair, London; Henie Onstad Kunstsenter, Bærum; and Gaudel de Stampa, Paris and most recently at Kunsthall Stavanger, 2013 and Frieze Art Fair, New York, 2014.