Program Notes

I developed the concept for perfect lovers after studying the 1991 artwork of the same name by Félix González-Torres in an art history class. “Perfect Lovers” uses two identical battery-powered clocks, displayed on a wall next to each other, initially set to the same time. The clocks will naturally fall out of sync or may stop entirely.

The artwork was conceived shortly after González-Torres’ partner was diagnosed with AIDS, using commonplace objects such as clocks to visually demonstrate the unforgiving flow of time. If the clocks stop or break, they can both be reset to resume synchrony. When discussing the piece, González-Torres stated,

“Time is something that scares me. . . or used to. This piece I made with the two clocks was the scariest thing I have ever done. I wanted to face it. I wanted those two clocks right in front of me, ticking.”

Examining the work through the lens of the AIDS crisis, the two clocks could represent two lovers struggling to support themselves and each other while simultaneously facing the terror of impending mortality, as well as brutal societal stigmas.

When examining this artwork, I am reminded of the ways in which my own relationships have met similar fates to the two clocks. Two performers, playing any two of the same instrument, represent the two clocks, or the two lovers. At the start of the piece, they are both playing the exact same predetermined note in identical unison with a metronomic track at 60 bpm (the logistics of the performance are explained in the instructions). A third party is controlling the metronome to which player 2 is listening, and slowly fluctuating it over time so player 2 falls out of sync with player 1. This third party represents the uncontrollable force of time that tears the two lovers, or clocks, apart.

Player 2 takes instant notice that they have fallen out of sync with player 1. Through the performance, they begin to feel more and more distant from player 1, who is oblivious to the widening gap between the two. Ultimately, the death of their bond is exhibited when player 2 breaks from their metronomic restraint and improvises a cry for help to player 1. Player 1 takes no notice of this, and continues playing exactly what they have for the entire piece. Player 2 is broken. They give up playing entirely in defeat, and watch player 1 with an extreme feeling of loss. Player 1 is a shell of the lover they once were, devoid of personality, only capable of playing one note repeatedly until the figurative end of time, or until death decides to envelop them.