(Radio Iowa) – Visitors to the sculpture park in downtown Des Moines will no longer have to glance at their watches or phones to determine the time, as a new two-story-tall clock overlooks the area, blending art and technology. Renae Mauk, a vice president with the Greater Des Moines Partnership, says the work called “TimePiece” is an innovative 3-D installation that displays real time in a giant clockface through 162 L-E-D panels on the side of the Fitch Building. “It’s a new digital clock for downtown Des Moines, and every hour on the hour it presents a whole new design,” Mauk says. “There’s 12 different clock faces, and we really encourage people to come down and see it. There’s a face on it that is called Colossal, this kind of robot character that comes out and changes the time every hour.”

The colorful clock’s dozen faces in stained glass, jewels and stones repeat every 12 hours, with mini-shows every 15 minutes. TimePiece is the creation of world-renowned French artist and filmmaker Yorame Mevorach, who’s known professionally as Oyoram. “He has a residence here in Des Moines, and so between the property owner and the artist, they kind of had approached the group about this and I think it was important for him to have a piece of work in one of his hometowns,” Mauk says. “That’s kind of the connection and we’re excited to have this piece and have it be such a permanent part of the downtown’s collection.” What did it cost? Mauk will only say that it was “a collection of in-kind donations” that made it a reality on the capitol city’s skyline.

TimePiece (Radio Iowa photo)

TimePiece creates the illusion of depth and movement, transforming a flat surface into an immersive experience, and she says it sparkles every 15 minutes, much like the Eiffel Tower does on the hour. “I saw a woman stopped, walking her dog, and admiring it. She lives around the corner and was just sharing how she’s already had so many wonderful interactions with neighbors and other downtown residents,” Mauk says. “She even struck up a 15-minute conversation with somebody she never knew before, and I loved her words, she said, ‘It’s doing exactly what art should do, in creating community and conversation.'”

Mauk says Oyoram is based in Des Moines’ Historic Sherman Hill neighborhood and maintains a working studio in Paris. With the addition of a gallery for immersive art installations under construction, he hopes to create a bridge between visual artists in the two cities.