Amsterdam’s Airport Clock Where a Human Paints on Each Minute by Hand
Travelers moving through Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport rarely slow down, yet many still end up stopping when they notice a huge clock hanging above one of the concourses. Inside the frosted glass face, it looks as if a man in blue overalls is standing behind the clock, repainting the hands every single minute.
The installation, called the Schiphol Clock, was created by Dutch artist Maarten Baas. There’s no advanced tech behind it. Baas filmed himself completing a full 12-hour cycle of drawing and wiping the hands, then turned the footage into a looping display. The effect feels surprisingly real, as if time is being kept by someone rather than something.
From a distance, the clock seems to contain a person who climbs a small ladder inside the translucent face and marks each minute with a roller before wiping it away. In truth, travelers see a recording of Baas during a continuous 12-hour performance. The loop stays perfectly aligned with the actual time, so every movement matches the passing minutes. The effect feels almost intimate. It turns an ordinary clock into a piece of art where time advances through a person’s deliberate actions.
How Maarten Baas Made Time Personal
The Schiphol Clock is part of Baas’s Real Time series, which began back in 2009 at the Milan Furniture Fair. Each piece in the series plays with the idea of time as something performed rather than displayed. In “Sweepers,” two workers sweep debris in patterns that mark the minutes. In “Analog Digital,” Baas paints the digits of a digital clock by hand. His “Grandfather Clocks” even show a man drawing the hands on an old-fashioned face from the inside.
Baas explained that “real time” in film means the duration of a scene matches the time it takes in real life. He took that literally. Each Real-Time piece required 12 hours to film and 12 hours to view, which produced a continuous depiction of time in motion. When Schiphol Airport invited Baas to create work that could stand in for tulips, clogs, and windmills, he expanded the idea and transformed it into a large-scale installation public artwork.
A Tribute to Everyday Workers
Baas said he was inspired by the unseen workers who keep airports running, the janitors and cleaners who move through terminals in blue overalls. His clock honors them by turning one of those faceless figures into the keeper of time. The man inside the clock has a red bucket and a yellow cloth, painting and cleaning over and over again. The primary colors, red, yellow, and blue, also pay tribute to iconic Dutch artists Piet Mondrian and Gerrit Rietveld, both of whom incorporated these colors into their work.
The installation includes a ladder and a small door that look fully functional, which strengthens the impression that the figure could step in or out whenever he chooses. The detail creates a subtle sense of curiosity and encourages travelers to pause and consider whether someone might actually be inside, keeping the minutes updated by hand.
Viral Fame and Public Reception
Image via Canva/View Apart
The clock gained new attention when Indian traveler SK Ali shared a video on Instagram showing the man painting 6:10 and then changing it to 6:11. The clip went viral, and racked up more than 1.2 million views. People liked it for turning something as ordinary as checking the time into a small, mesmerizing show. For travelers between flights, it’s a reminder that time doesn’t just move; it’s made, minute by minute, by the effort of someone willing to paint it by hand.