IMF Atrium World Clock

From the outside, IMF Headquarters is yet another brutalist block in Northwest Washington, DC. But inside, we’re a dynamic multilateral institution, providing support for 190 member countries, with a dedicated staff doing work of global consequence. We at Creative Solutions wanted to see the grand scope of our work reflected somehow in our building. That desire gave birth to the Atrium World Clock, an hourly video sequence that plays out on the two-story video wall of our interior Atrium, facing the entrance of IMF HQ. Every hour, on the hour, the wall – visible from nearly every floor in the building – displays a split screen view of economic life, set to play in synchronization with the time of day it was filmed. Composed on a short timeline and with a miniscule budget, our producers commissioned freelance videographers from 27 countries to film multiple scenes representative of not just wealth and prosperity, but of true-to-life economic scenes playing out in (relatively) real-time. From the hustle and bustle of Mumbai’s street markets to London’s towering central business district, the World Clock takes us on a 24-hour journey through how the world does business. Over time, we hope to keep the World Clock as a living project that will be updated regularly to include all 190 IMF member states.