10.05.2005
(exhibit 'a' in a new directory of all things wonderful. ok, exhibit 'b' right after that wendell berry poem. a recurring cycle for me, making lists of wrongs and then one day realizing it is time for the other...)
Directions--
Janet Cardiff
Words drawn in water
As part of the Hirshhorn’s ongoing "Directions" series, the museum has commissioned a new artwork by Janet Cardiff (b. 1957), a Canadian-born artist known for her inventive use of binaural sound technology. Cardiff has developed a 33-minute multisensory audio walk artwork, "Words drawn in water," in which the artist’s layered sound effects merge to evoke a blending of history and memory. The audio walk debuts Aug. 3 and will continue through Oct. 30. The audio walk is free and available Wednesday through Sunday from 11 am to 2:30 pm
Interview with the artist and project curator Kelly Gordon, July 2005:
KG: Can you describe what led you to develop your audio walks?
JC: The development of the audio walks came about through a totally serendipitous experience. I happened to press rewind while walking and taping in the field, and when I replayed it, listening with my headphones, I was fascinated by the layering of the past onto the present. It had a strange quality of creating a new world, blending together the physical and the virtual. I was also very excited by how my recorded body walking and talking created such an intense physical presence for me, as if there were another woman that was part of me but separate.
KG: How do you create such intense three-dimensional soundscapes?
JC: The technique that I use is called binaural audio. I record right on the site, following the exact route that the participant will eventually take. The recording system is made from two microphones mounted in the ears of a dummy head. Because of the head's shape, it captures the way we hear. I get many looks and comments from people as I wander around with this blue (hairdresser's dummy) head held out in front of me.
KG: How does location influence the development of each project? How has working on the National Mall compared to working on projects in other cities?
JC: Location is really very important to the content of a walk. The Mall was one of the most difficult and the most fascinating sites I've used. It was fascinating because of the abundance of important, historic actions that have occurred there. It was difficult because in the end I had way too much information and too many recordings and not enough space to include them, so the editing process was pretty extreme. Also, I have to say that doing a walk in the capital of America in this current political situation was antithetical to my creative process. I had to turn off my negative feelings about the Bush administration in order to produce the piece. It made me realize how difficult it is not to become political in Washington.
KG: How did work on this project begin? What was the most difficult aspect to develop?
JC: The first part of the process was finding a route that interested me…a beginning, a middle, and an intimate location for the end. After establishing the route, the next part in the process was to do a lot of walking, listening, and looking. This is how I find themes that echo the location. In this piece, I concentrate on a couple of themes. One is the use of water as a metaphor for the fluidity of time and for connecting political ideas and people. Another interest for me in Washington became the prevalence of political illusion and working with that metaphorically. Just as a piece of mirror found on the sidewalk becomes a chunk of sky, the varying soundscapes, such as an audience clapping around you, a car passing, or a band playing, make you question the truth of anything you hear.
JC: Sound has an innate ability to transport you out of your body, so if you give an audience various soundscapes, you can transport them through their imagination into many different places. For example, the sound of ghostly people talking around you...a sense of the past...intimate relationship between the artist and listener...a very private space for the audience in the midst of a very public area...the unexpected taking you into a different world for a few moments...a bit of magic...
Directions--
Janet Cardiff
Words drawn in water
As part of the Hirshhorn’s ongoing "Directions" series, the museum has commissioned a new artwork by Janet Cardiff (b. 1957), a Canadian-born artist known for her inventive use of binaural sound technology. Cardiff has developed a 33-minute multisensory audio walk artwork, "Words drawn in water," in which the artist’s layered sound effects merge to evoke a blending of history and memory. The audio walk debuts Aug. 3 and will continue through Oct. 30. The audio walk is free and available Wednesday through Sunday from 11 am to 2:30 pm
Interview with the artist and project curator Kelly Gordon, July 2005:
KG: Can you describe what led you to develop your audio walks?
JC: The development of the audio walks came about through a totally serendipitous experience. I happened to press rewind while walking and taping in the field, and when I replayed it, listening with my headphones, I was fascinated by the layering of the past onto the present. It had a strange quality of creating a new world, blending together the physical and the virtual. I was also very excited by how my recorded body walking and talking created such an intense physical presence for me, as if there were another woman that was part of me but separate.
KG: How do you create such intense three-dimensional soundscapes?
JC: The technique that I use is called binaural audio. I record right on the site, following the exact route that the participant will eventually take. The recording system is made from two microphones mounted in the ears of a dummy head. Because of the head's shape, it captures the way we hear. I get many looks and comments from people as I wander around with this blue (hairdresser's dummy) head held out in front of me.
KG: How does location influence the development of each project? How has working on the National Mall compared to working on projects in other cities?
JC: Location is really very important to the content of a walk. The Mall was one of the most difficult and the most fascinating sites I've used. It was fascinating because of the abundance of important, historic actions that have occurred there. It was difficult because in the end I had way too much information and too many recordings and not enough space to include them, so the editing process was pretty extreme. Also, I have to say that doing a walk in the capital of America in this current political situation was antithetical to my creative process. I had to turn off my negative feelings about the Bush administration in order to produce the piece. It made me realize how difficult it is not to become political in Washington.
KG: How did work on this project begin? What was the most difficult aspect to develop?
JC: The first part of the process was finding a route that interested me…a beginning, a middle, and an intimate location for the end. After establishing the route, the next part in the process was to do a lot of walking, listening, and looking. This is how I find themes that echo the location. In this piece, I concentrate on a couple of themes. One is the use of water as a metaphor for the fluidity of time and for connecting political ideas and people. Another interest for me in Washington became the prevalence of political illusion and working with that metaphorically. Just as a piece of mirror found on the sidewalk becomes a chunk of sky, the varying soundscapes, such as an audience clapping around you, a car passing, or a band playing, make you question the truth of anything you hear.
JC: Sound has an innate ability to transport you out of your body, so if you give an audience various soundscapes, you can transport them through their imagination into many different places. For example, the sound of ghostly people talking around you...a sense of the past...intimate relationship between the artist and listener...a very private space for the audience in the midst of a very public area...the unexpected taking you into a different world for a few moments...a bit of magic...