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untitled (dissections . . . they said it was an experiment), 1988/1993. Color-toned video and LCD screen (silent); 00:30:00; 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches. Edition 3/9. Gift, Peter Norton Family Foundation. 94.4261 |
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Ann Hamilton's work foregrounds sensory experience and evokes memories that are rooted in the body, operating in a seemingly prelinguistic or nonverbal realm. The videos shown here—originally components of larger installations for which Hamilton is best known—are intimate explorations of bodily experience and convey visually what is experienced through touch. In each piece, an ordinary somatic function—speaking, hearing—is compromised and overwhelmed by a purely tactile sensation. Water runs down a neck in untitled (dissections . . . they said it was an experiment) (1998/1993), deluges an ear in untitled (the capacity of absorption) (1988/1993), and floods a mouth in untitled (linings) (1990/1993), while in untitled (aleph) (1992/1993) rocks fill a mouth that struggles to create speech. The only video that incorporates sound, untitled (aleph) takes its name from the shape the mouth forms in the transition between silence and speech.
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