Tuesday, June 10, 2008

1995 “Sound Project” for Aperto 95 (Stoppage, CCC, Tours, Villa Arson, Nice, Hotel Mama, Kunstraum, Vienna)

For this project I gave each curator (Liam Gillick for the French exhibitions and Peter Friedl for the Vienna show) a list of common French and Austrian names and a set of instructions. They were asked to find native speakers and ask them to call each name a few times, as if they were trying to draw the attention of a friend in a crowded room. These voices were recorded on a CD which was then played in the gallery.

This work deals with my uneasiness at addressing an anonimous crowd. I wanted to reach people individually, but then make them aware of the illusory nature of this familiarity, to draw their attention not to tell them something (as a matter of fact no message followed the call), but just to make them suspicious of any interpellation, keep them on guard. Bertolt Brecht's Verfremdung Effekt once again provided the inspiration.

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