Time Moves in One Direction, Memory in Another (9 Photos)

From dreamlike illusions to philosophical street stencils, this collection explores how public art stretches, twists, and rewrites time itself. Featured works range from a clock being pulled through a brick wall in Australia to a White Rabbit in Mexico dressed for a mad tea party. You’ll see optical illusions, hand-painted sundials, and even a child dreaming against the ticking of an oversized alarm. These artists invite us to pause and consider how time shapes memory, urgency, and imagination.

More birds!: 8 Beautiful Artworks That Seem to Grow From Nature

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1. Time Moves in One Direction, Memory in Another – Artist Daniel Arsham in New York, US

A photorealistic hand painted in grayscale appears to stretch a fabric-like wall around a real mounted clock, giving the illusion that the clock is being dragged backward through time. The piece blends trompe-l’œil realism with conceptual depth.

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2. White Rabbit – URZE & CHAD, Mexico City, Mexico.

This fantastical mural features a white rabbit with red-rimmed eyes, dressed in a patterned robe, holding a Roman numeral clock. Surrounded by gold and blue ornamental detailing, the scene clearly references Lewis Carroll’s time-obsessed rabbit.

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3. Radium – SHOK-1 in Le Locle, Switzerland

Painted with SHOK-1’s signature X-ray style, this glowing green mural shows a skeletal hand delicately drawing time with a pencil, its tip forming a clock shape. Located in the birthplace of Swiss watchmaking.

SHOK-1: This piece is about the tragic story of the Radium Girls, who suffered horribly with radiation poisoning from painting watch faces back in the 20s. I think we can still learn from it today as a narrative about the misuse of science by commerce, and of profit over people. I rendered it in the colour of radium watch lume, as if it were the dial glowing in the dark.

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4. Alarm Clocks Kill Dreams

A minimal stencil in red spray paint on a yellow wall states, “alarm clocks kill dreams,” featuring a simple drawing of an alarm clock. A classic street slogan challenging our relationship with work and rest.

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5. ORIGIN – ONUR in Le Locle, Switzerland

This ultra-realistic mural shows a man using a fine instrument to adjust tiny clockwork parts, which seamlessly blend into a painted landscape of a lake and mountains. A tribute to craftsmanship and time’s precision.

ONUR: Watchmakers visualize time and give it a picture. Le locle is the place where the cradle of this visualization of time lies. It was created, built and carried out into the world. The work „ORIGIN“ is not just a watchmaker who symbolically stands for care and consideration. It is also an homage to all people who build their home and their environment with great devotion and precision.

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6. Space and Time – Eduardo Relero in Bochum, Germany

Drawn directly onto the pavement in 3D illusion style, two surreal figures lie asleep on a bed made of oversized timepieces and gears. One of them clutches a meter-long alarm clock. A viewer poses on the bed, blending into the illusion.

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7. Street Sundial

This simple but clever intervention transforms a regular sidewalk pole into a functioning sundial. A half-clock face is painted on the ground, using the pole’s shadow to indicate time.

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8. Love Plzeň – Chemis in Plzeň, Czech Republic

A giant child hugs a teddy bear while dreaming beneath a peeling painted wall. Above the child floats an alarm clock, painted as if it’s about to ring. The mural mixes realism with warm nostalgia, painted during the Wallz Festival. More photos here!

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9. Busy day at Stonehenge as the stones are moved forward one hour

Of course, no one is actually resetting Stonehenge for daylight saving time—but this real historical photo from the 1950s restoration efforts makes it look that way!

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More: When Street Art Meets Nature (40 Photos)

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Which one is your favorite?