Object of the month February 2013  
Like Bringing Owls to Athens

Rolling-eye clock in the shape of an owl, Prim, CSSR, c. 1980

Not only is the owl considered to be a bird of wisdom, it is also a portent of bad luck. What, then, does this little owl with the animated eyes have to tell us? This wall clock was manufactured in 1981 in the People’s Enterprise, Chronotechna, in Czechoslovakia. Hence, it is probably no coincidence that this little feathered beast had been given red plumage. Red also symbolizes certain ideologies. Does this clock, depicted in a politically correct red, stand for the wisdom of socialism? Or was it a bad omen, when the bird bearing misfortune preened itself in the colour of the Socialist International? In any case, the People’s Enterprise could not bear social change and became privately run in 1990. The Elton company, however, is currently manufacturing clocks under the Prim brand name.

Inv. 2003-068

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