Work no. 189 1998

Martin Creed uses ordinary, everyday events, objects or situations to create moments of poetic reflection. His works also provide an opportunity to reconsider things commonly taken for granted as extraordinary. Work no. 189 comprises 39 identical metronomes: each one is set and calibrated incrementally across the full spectrum of tempo speeds, from fast (presto) to very slow (lento), producing a rhythmical cacophony. The clockwork mechanisms indicate the exact tempo of a musical composition, but what comes across in this artwork is the irony that a standardised, mass-produced product – one that seems to lack musicality – could be so important in the creation of unique works of music. The repetition of form collides with the dissonant repetition of chance; the metronomes progressively lose their momentum and stop at unpredictable times over a particular duration, adding to the paradoxical humour of the work.