1979
Time Piece, Silent Alarm Clock, 1980

In 1979, Max Neuhaus adjusted the alarm clock to the sensibility of the sleeper who wants to wake up at a certain time.  He designed a sound that does not disturb sleep, but whose disappearance and subliminal absence strike the sleeper and bring about awakening.  
What counts here is not the form or presence of the sound, but its efficacy.
This work is not a decor, but a ceremony (from carimonia, which in turn comes from careo = to lack, be deprived).  It is a way of differing from the tradition.  
Not fullness of sound, then, but lack or movement in the interval between fullness and emptiness.  The first in the series of Time Pieces.

Germano Celant, 'Max Neuhaus:  Germano Celant, 'Max Neuhaus: An Occasion for Listening', 1994
Translated from the Italian by Brian Holmes