An Inability to Make a Sound
An Inability to Make a Sound
1992
Medium:
Audio walk with film and mixed media
Duration:
10 minutes
Commissioner:
Curated by Susan Bustin for Eye Level Gallery, Halifax, Canada.
A French version was curated by Sylvie Fortin for La Chambre Blanche in Quebec City, Canada, 1994
Janet Cardiff
I decided that I would try to use the concepts of a walk for a gallery space. We were renting a large studio in Montreal at the time so I produced it there, using some of the cinderblocks and scaffolding planks that were scattered around the neighborhood. I felt that I needed a route or path, so I set up the planks in the studio to create a circuit. In the various galleries where this piece has been exhibited, we would just rent scaffolding and buy cinderblocks and remount it
sfx woman comes running in from behind and yells to man running with her
Woman I don’t believe you, that’s not what happened.
she runs past, onto the boards, scuffling starts, there are wrestling sounds as two people push each other around. there is the sound of a plank getting pushed and knocked off the blocks. I stop, wait, and then start walking again
Janet Follow the sound of my steps.
Man yells to the woman Ok, you win, you’re better, you’re better, you’re right.
Woman Fuck you asshole!
Janet You’re lying to me, I’ve heard this all before, through the walls, waking me in the middle of the night. I listened with a glass so I know.
sound of people scrambling and falling, one person on top of the other. you can hear their wrestling and breathing
Janet This is a trip to find something that I’ve lost … There’s always an inability to make a sound, make a voice, she said this, I said that, I did this … but no real sounds come out. Maybe the largest speaker in the world will tell me what I want to hear.
violin player comes in, then fades out. my footsteps are heard in the room
Janet This is a trip to find something that I’ve lost … There’s always an inability to make a sound, make a voice, she said this, I said that, I did this…but no real sounds come out. Maybe the largest speaker in the world will tell me what I want to hear.