"Mediation's"
This piece of work 'Mediation's' by Gary Hill is based around three of our major senses, visual, oral and aural.
As you as you walk into the exhibition you are greeted with a huge black projector screen, with a continuous tape playing, this and a black chair are the only 3D objects in this room.
By only playing up three of our major senses, Gary Hill captures our attention 100%.
Visually attracting us in this piece of art, is the use of the artists hand. Something we an all identify as our own. We watch as the hand slowly drops handfuls of sand onto the sub woofer speaker, while he orally and aurally grasps our attention by speaking into a microphone, which makes the sub woofer speaker move. This connects the three senses, and together creates and interesting art piece.
When we see the sub-woofer, you expect to her a 'doof doof' noice that many associate with 'Boy racer cars'. However, this is not exactly the noice we hear.
So the idea of the sub-woofer and what humans connect it to (semiotics) plays with the viewers mind. If a different speaker were used, say a small car speaker, the same effect would not and colud not have been achieved.
The pressure behind the sub-woofer is what causes the sand to jump and vibrate.
Repetition also plays a major part in this piece. Orally, Visually and Aurally.
When the speaker speaks, we are told exactly what is happening, the word 'voice' is said repeatedly throughout the entire piece
"...buried voices underground, voices buried underground, a voice from the underground, a voice is noisy ground, a voice is lost and found underground, a bare voice lies in the sand. Barely a voice can be said to be heard. One heard of wild voices kicking up the ground."
Visually,we see his hand constantly bringing in handfuls of sand, and slowly releasing it onto the sub woofer.
As the sand mass get greater, the feedback on the voice becomes less, and slowly is drowned out until it is just a quiet voice in the background.
If there are no viewers in the room to receive the sound or to see the moving picture, the artwork still goes on. The artwork is not neccesarily just the projector screen, the artwork is the whole room which a viewer walks into and becomes part of.
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If I compared this with my last blog entry on the short film 'O Tamaiti' the way the senses have been used in each piece are quite different. 'O Tamaiti' is predominately sound. No words are spoken (except for a few in Samoan tongue) and sounds such as combing of hair, and drinking are played up, rather than the usual sounds in movies/art work pieces. In contrast to Gary Hills 'Mediation's' where is is mostly oral and visual.
To me 'O Tamaiti' was used to portray the harsh life that Samoan Children are put through, by not speaking it almost seemed as though they were not permitted to do so, or they chose not to in fear of being scolded at or punished for saying something inappropriate or offensive. In 'Mediation's' however, the used of the oral and visual senses show tell us more of an abstract story about sand. How it is heavy and able to cover up many things, and in this example, voices.
"...barely a voice can be said to be heard..."
In this case the sub woofer speaker is the signifier. It stands for something else. The voice?
So if the sub woofer is the signifier for the voice, what is the voice? Is it the signifier for the person or is it simply just the voice
Great that you were interested in the Gary Hill show. This is 'tough' art that makes demands of an audience. It's art that does not give itself easily to a listener and I use the word listener because that is the third sense in the work that you have overlooked. Sure Gary Hill spoke the words but you heard them, you are the receiver. What is happening in that room if there is no viewer/listener to receive the sound? is there just a flickering image? the sub-woofer is certainly a signifier, a signifier of sound but what are the connotations associated with that sound. When you see that speaker what do you expect to hear? What would happen to the work if a different speaker were used? The action of the artist is kind of two ways in that he uses the speaker as it is intended to be used to transmit sound but he also works against that intention by pouring sand into the speaker which allows us to not only hear the sound but also see it. You have made a good attempt at discussing this difficult work, to develop your response think a bit more about what is physically and materially happening in the work. Good to see you relate this to O Tamaiti. These types of comparisons can help you tease out the content of both films. Your work is developing keep up the effort. cheers, grant.
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