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| HOME > INSTALLATIONS > THE EMPTY ROOM | ||||
| THE EMPTY ROOM | 1997 | PREVIOUS WORK | NEXT WORK | |||
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| Martin
Janda invited us to do an exhibition in his space in Vienna. We decided
to experiment with combining an installation with an audio walk.
We strung a multitude of curtains to make a labyrinth of hallways,
and then situated a revolving loud speaker, a miniature house, and
a table, on which there were books, electronics, and a latex rubber
head cast from my face. Janet I walk these halls at night when they think I’m asleep. I go over to the window, opening it wide, letting in the night air ... and then I jump. carousel music and crazy singing Janet Listen to me, follow my footsteps. Go through the curtain. Janet Walk quietly, walk slowly … The doctor doesn’t like to be disturbed ... Wait, someone’s coming. sound of footsteps walking by, keys, door opening, doctor’s voice from “Frankenstein’s Bride”: something about the mysteries of life and death. sound of curtain moving Janet Some nights I feel my bed breathing, going up and down like there’s a sleeping body beneath me. pause Let’s go on. scary music, laughter ? footsteps, then violin is heard. Janet Stop, listen ... he plays every night. violin gets closer ... player plays around listener Older Man’s voice You are getting sleepy ... your eyes are closing, but you can still see. Older Man’s voice When you leave this building you will only remember the emptiness, the white walls, the long hallways. You did not see her here. |
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| In
The Empty Room, visitors enter the gallery space from the stairwell of
a late-nineteenth-century building in Vienna mixed with residential and
office space. In collaboration with George Bures Miller, Janet Cardiff
has created a walk through an exhibition space that measures only 50 square
meters. Once inside the darkened room, visitors are provided with a flashlight
and a Walkman. The walk leads them through a corridor of plastic curtains with the faint sound of music from an old gramophone and brief instructions given through the headphones. Short statements, ambiguous commands and anxious encounters accompany them as they follow the labyrinthine path through curtains hung closer and closer together. Martin Janda |
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| CARDIFF & MILLER Audio-walk installation with sculpture, 9 min. Curated by Martin Janda. Raum Aktueller Kunst, Vienna, Austria |