The Corpus Clock, also known as the Grasshopper clock faces onto the street outside the Taylor Library at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge,
It’s at the junction of Bene”t Street and Trumpington Street, facing towards King’s Parade.
It was designed by John Taylor, an alumni of the college, and the physicist Stephen Hawking unveiled it in 2008.
The reason people stop and stare at it is that there is a giant mechanical fly or grasshopper or some insect that seems to be turning the wheels of the clock. Personally I think it is creepy and I guess I think of it as a memento mori – a reminder of death.
Visitors to the city love to stop and look at it. Tour guides guide people to it, and the way different people react interests me. If I am on my way down Trumpington Street and turn the corner from Bene’t Street, I love to walk through the crowd because I am from the city and past all that ogling. it is not good for my ego and I really ought to skirt around – but sometimes I am due for an appointment and can feel justified in walking through the throng.
The thick (bulletproof?) glass was damaged a few weeks ago and the space was boarded up and now it is back as though it never suffered an interruption. I felt sorry for it when it was vandalised. Go figure, bearing in mind that I don’t much like it.
What photography is really all about is looking at the photographs.
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