Video (I See)
2001
Video projection, 60 min loop, silent
Video was
made from manipulated 16 mm found footage of a human larynx singing. Filmed
under a strobe light, and with all sound removed, the resulting projection
creates a flickering environment of overwhelming physicality, in which sound
becomes light.
The work
was projected from behind a constructed, curved wall, as if coming from the
back of an eye. A sandblasted
acrylic screen 6 x 4 ft was suspended at the point at which sound would focus
if reflected from the curve. The
surrounding space was painted white, so that the whole space and the audience
were exposed by reflected light.
People stood silently watching this repetitive pulsation, and time
seemed to slow down.
In
appearance the vocal folds resemble genitalia or the stoma of a plant, a word
originally meaning ‘mouth’ in Greek which is connected to the word ‘stamma’ or
‘animal’. ‘Barbarian’ in its Sanskrit derivation means a foreigner, one who
speaks unintelligibly, a stammerer, someone ‘other’.
The
work was shown in conjunction with Stair 2001 and was also shown on a
computer screen as part of the British Stand at Art Caucasus, Tbilisi, Georgia 2005 (representing Station, Bristol)