The French city of Nantes has long established itself as a hotbed for surrealism: Andre Breton was a fan, and it was here that Agnes Varda set her ode to her husband Jacques Demy and his hometown. To keep this history going, the city on the Loire River hosts the annual festival Le Voyage à Nantes, filling the public spaces, galleries and hotels with mystic, magical and oddball art. A highlight of the 2019 edition is a man who’s turned himself into a clock. The clock, of course, has been a staple symbol for surrealist artists, from Dali to Hsieh to Marclay. This human clock comes courtesy of X/tnt, stage director Ludovic Nobileau and the sculptor Malachi Farrell, who have collaborated with performer and clockmaker Constantin Leu. Unlike many cities, there’s no public clock in the centre of Nantes, so this performative installation fills the gap, a half-human, half-cuckoo clock, from which smoke, ashes, vegetation, wind and other things will sporadically burst forth.
