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)