Stories of relics
Ryan Gander, Stories of relics, 2026. Photo Vid Ingelevics and Ryan Walker
Stories of relics, 2026
Ryan Gander
Bronze, armourstone, paint
Now on view:
Stories of relics for pluralistic minds (iii) & (iv)
Upcoming in late July:
Stories of relics for pluralistic minds (i) & (ii)
Stories of relics features four clocks from different moments in the history of timekeeping—an alarm clock, a digital clock, a sand timer, and a candle timer.
Numbered by Roman numerals in relation to their chronological invention, each one is embedded on an armourstone that is itself millions of years old. Two of the clocks are currently accessible, they are the alarm clock: Stories of relics for pluralistic minds (iii) , which is close to the playground, and the digital clock: Stories of relics for pluralistic minds (iv), which is on the south side of the river.
When the rest of the park system opens in late July, visitors will be able to seek out all four sculptures distributed throughout the park; a tour that will mark multiple moments to be experienced within a day, or over repeat visits that might chart seasonal change.
As the precision of timekeeping has advanced since early civilizations invented sundials and water clocks, so too has our relationship to how we measure, manage, tell, and understand time. Ryan Gander’s clocks read as alien to the landscape, like fossils from the future. Each one includes a visual glitch, a subtle doubling, that invites us to pause and reflect on attention and time as two of our most valuable assets.
Ryan Gander
British
Ryan Gander is an artist and professor living and working across Suffolk and London in the UK. Over the past two decades, Gander has established an international reputation through a vast and pluralistic body of artworks that materialize in many different forms, ranging from sculpture, apparel and writing to architecture, painting, typefaces, publications and performance. Through creative and associative thought processes that connect everyday life and the esoteric, the overlooked and the commonplace, Gander’s work involves a questioning of language and knowledge, a reinvention of the modes of appearance and creation of an artwork.
Recent solo shows have been held at Helga de Alvear, Cáceres, Spain; Ishikawa Cultural Foundation, Okayama, Japan; Tokyo Opera City, Japan; TARO NASU, Tokyo, Japan; Lisson Gallery, NYC, New York; Kunsthalle Bern, Switzerland; Esther Schipper, Berlin, Germany; BASE / Progetti per l’arte, Florence, Italy; gb Agency, Paris, France; Lisson Gallery, London, England; The National Museum of Art, Osaka, Japan; Hyundai Gallery, Seoul, South Korea; Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada; Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne; Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore; Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, England.
Portrait of Ryan Gander. Photo Deniz Guzel.
