Econocom installs four-screen display cube for Schiphol clock artwork
2026-08-04 · via AV Magazine
Econocom, the systems integrator that handles digital signage at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, has supplied the AV technology behind a new large-format display artwork installed above the airport's Lounge 1.
The piece, called The People's Clock, is the work of Dutch designer Maarten Baas. It consists of four screens, each measuring 250cm by 250cm, arranged around a cube that overhangs the lounge. The screens display footage of more than 1,000 airport staff volunteers, including security personnel, baggage handlers, cabin crew, office staff, ground handlers and cleaners, who were filmed moving in formation to form the clock's hour and minute hands. According to the release, 500 people were filmed each day taking one step clockwise every minute across a 12-hour cycle. The second hand is a single person in orange running a lap of the circle every minute.
For anyone running screens on transport or retail estates, the interesting part here is not the artwork itself but the scale and integration involved in getting it onto a display. A 250cm by 250cm panel, times four, arranged into a cube suspended over a working airport lounge, is not a standard signage deployment. The announcement does not specify the display technology used (LED or LCD), resolution, brightness, or how content is played back and synchronised across the four faces, which would normally be the first questions an integrator or AV manager would ask when assessing a build like this. It also does not name the media players, mounting structure, or content management system behind the installation.
Econocom's role is described as providing "AV technology" for the piece, and the company is named as Schiphol's long-term digital signage partner, which suggests the airport treated this as an extension of its existing signage infrastructure rather than a one-off art commission handled separately. That is a useful data point for other large venues considering permanent art or brand installations: the same integrator relationship that runs wayfinding and advertising screens can plausibly extend to bespoke large-format builds, provided the venue already has that infrastructure and vendor relationship in place.
The piece is a companion to Baas's earlier Schiphol Clock, installed in Lounge 2 in 2016 as part of his Real Time series. That original work showed Baas himself repainting the clock hands in real time with a roller. The new piece uses the same real-time, 12-hour performance structure but replaces the single artist with hundreds of staff, which the airport and designer frame as a statement about cooperation rather than individual labour.
For operators, the piece is a reminder that large-scale display art in transport and retail venues is becoming a more visible use case for AV integrators, sitting alongside the more routine work of running gate information, wayfinding and advertising screens. What is missing from this announcement is any detail on running costs, maintenance access for a screen structure mounted over a public lounge, or whether the same setup will be used for future artist commissions at the airport.
The announcement in full
Reproduced from AV Magazine for reference. Digital Signage Magazine did not write the text below.
By AV Magazine in Digital Signage and DOOH , Europe , Transport August 4, 2026 0
The People’s Clock by Maarten Baas, which pays tribute to the airport’s workforce, uses film of 500 staff members standing in formation for 12 hours, taking small steps to form its moving hands.
Econocom has provided the AV technology for a large-scale digital display clock, featuring hands made up of a line of people, at Schiphol Airport.
The systems integrator, which is the airport’s longstanding digital signage partner, worked on The People’s Clock, by Maarten Baas, which comprises four screens measuring 250cm by 250cm arranged around a cube overhanging the airport’s Lounge 1.
The Dutch designer was tasked with creating an artwork that put the human beings who keep the airport running at the heart of the project.
Baas recruited more than 1,000 volunteers, most of whom were security staff, baggage handlers, cabin crew, office workers, ground handlers and cleaners at the airport.
They convened in a hangar at Schiphol, where they were asked to move in sync to form the clock’s hour and minute hands.
A camera positioned overhead filmed 500 people a day as they stood in formation, taking one step in a clockwise direction every minute for 12 hours.
The second hand comprises a single person dressed in orange running a lap of the perimeter of the circle each minute.
The People’s Clock complements Baas’s Schiphol Clock, which was installed in Lounge 2 in 2016, as part of the artist’s Real Time series, which aims to draw attention to the phenomenon of time passing.
Both clocks involve a real-time 12-hour performance, but whereas the original piece depicts Baas drawing and redrawing the clock’s hands with a roller and paint, the latest installation aims to demonstrate the power of cooperation.