What time is it? if you go through Amsterdam Schiphol there is a particular clock
Five years later, it would also be time to write a new article where I recount the strangest things that [...]
AMS
Five years later it would also be time to write a new article where I tell about the strangest things you can find in an airport, but in anticipation of that day today I want to tell one of the most curious ones ever: Amsterdam airport clock.
Amsterdam Schiphol, the coolest airport in Europe
In this article:
There is a Fokker on the roof accessible to all, there are the rabbits playing carefree in the lawns of the air terminal, and then there is him, the man who has the coolest job in the world, that of running the clock at the airport's central plaza.
Schiphol Clock
If you often fly away Amsterdam Schiphol, you have most likely seen it at least once. Hidden inside a huge transparent clock, a man in a blue suit and red briefcase erases and redraws the hands of time, minute by minute. A gesture so simple and at the same time so absurd that it seems real. Many, every day, wonder: Is he a technician? Is he an artist? Is he really in there?
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It is actually one of the most iconic installations at the airport: "Schiphol Clock", a work by Dutch artist Maarten Baas, located in the airside area of Terminal 2, thus in the non-schengen area. Below the Starbucks and near the escalator leading to the oneworld Lounge and to the Aspire Lounge.
The watch shows a video in ultra-high definition: the man painting the hands is not live, but the result of a recorded work lasting exactly 12 hours. Baas himself plays the role of "time maintainer," wiping off the hand with a rag and drawing a new one every sixty seconds.
Why does he like it so much?
Because in the perfectly automated world of airports, where everything is digital, fast and impersonal, the idea of a person who materially "Fix" time has something poetic about it. It is a way to remind passengers-often rushing between gates-that time is not just numbers: it is a construction, almost a work of art in constant motion.
A symbol of Schiphol
From the day of installation, the clock has become something of a hidden attraction. Many travelers stop to photograph it, others record videos convinced that there really is someone behind that semi-opaque glass. And in a sense it does: the artist's performance, recorded and replayed, lives on every day, 24 hours a day.
Schiphol calls it "an invitation to observe time from a different perspective."
And perhaps that is also why it remains one of Europe's most successful pieces of airport art: simple to understand, impossible to ignore, and perfect for sharing on social media while waiting to board.
