The Whisper Room

Description

Wood and/or metal construction, acoustic panels, simple straight-back chair, 7” industrial HD flat screen, microphone stand, headphones, media player with activation switch, HD video (color, stereo sound, 3:10 min), and assorted cabling.

Proof edition of two and one artist.

The Whisper Room is an intimate encounter between the artist and each individual viewer through a personal recital. The installation reflects the place of its recording: a narration booth. One spectator at a time enters a small enclosed space lined with acoustic foam panels. Inside, there is a chair and a pair of headphones placed directly in front of a small video screen mounted on a microphone stand. Once the headphones are activated, the video either plays automatically or is started by the seated viewer.

The video begins from the point of view of someone slowly opening a door and entering a small space (the narration booth) with a single microphone on a stand. The camera slowly approaches the microphone and frames its spherical grille. The sphere holds center stage, floating throughout the duration of the video. It is as if the viewer were gently asked to speak, to be present, to remain there, while a disembodied voice accesses a kind of imaginary place—strangely close—where contact might occur.

Transcription

Note: The same text was first used in The Slow Torque of Bonsai, 2017 in which each line is spoken approximately 20-30 sec apart accompanied by a single pulse from several linked strobe lights. In The Whisper Room, the delivery is closer to that of a typical recitation.

Sometimes
As we approach
Others approaching
An imaginary point coalesces
Before us
Our past trajectories
All the protagonists
All of a sudden
Amongst us
Resurrected as it were
Our whereabouts
The involuntary inventory begins
Sampled earth
Unknown holes
Literal things too numerous to name
Reminiscent of ancient signs
Too sober to absorb
The slow torque of bonsai
The warmth of what once was
Just enough
Fades away
Alone in the light
Abandoned wood avails itself
I brought you here for reasons I can’t disclose
I’ve worked long hours for this
There is no particular agenda in mind
Nothing here will make or break
Anything
You, them, or I
Each and every one
Like tormented insects
By the end it will not matter
Or you will have forgotten
The differences once sworn by
I hesitated
Before deciding
Not to be present
No doubt, a compromise
I apologize
Do you remember?
The bed
The island
The refuge
The swollen details
Shared memorabilia
Human propaganda
The fact that you are here
Has that dawned on you?
But don’t go
I wish there were a way
For you to smell my belly for the first time
All over again
I could stand before you
Peer down at the crown of your head
We could have gone to see a film
Committed to the tedium of plagiarized time
Enabling our being together
Within our separate thoughts
Would it suffice?