This installation consists of a microscope (Olympus SZ) on a table and one chair; video images pass underneath the main lens. A sound system;(sound tube) is provided to the viewer, it comes from the ceiling and covers the specific area where the microscope is placed and consequently envelopes the person seated at the table; the video piece is a continuous recording of the artist studio practice. The sound is created by the musician and composer Paul de Jong and it was inspired by Alexandra do Carmo studio practice.
I used my studio at 50 Richards Street as the scenario for a self-observed video that was then shown to the audience through the lenses of a binocular microscope. Public knowledge of the hermetic studio practice was evoked with the conflicting dynamics of clinical detachment yet voyeurist investment of viewing time. “The work couples the idea of ‘voyeur’ and ‘investigator’ and effectively throws open the distinction between the two.”2 Can one measure the distance from author to viewer? How close is this relationship? How public is our artistic practice?
2 Robert Knafo, “On the Paleontology—Democracy Continuum,” SV (Studio Visit) Magazine online, www.studiovisit.net
Alexandra do Carmo
50 Richards, intallation/video, 35 min loop, Location One 2004 50 Richards (2004)
In composing a soundtrack for 50 Richards I attempt to create a continuous shifting between involvement and isolation. I try to manipulate these relations
of sound to the visual material as much as the relations of the viewer to the environment outside of the presented work. Sometimes the sound has an immediate relationship to the actions that can be seen in the video; isolating the viewer deeper inside the world of the studio.
The sound gradually drifts in and out of musical elements mixed in with the sound of the actions in the studio, and eventually these musical sounds blur the borders between a musical backdrop relating to the studio space to an exclusively musical environment which isolates the viewer from the gallery space in which the work is being presented.
Paul de Jong
I used my studio at 50 Richards Street as the scenario for a self-observed video that was then shown to the audience through the lenses of a binocular microscope. Public knowledge of the hermetic studio practice was evoked with the conflicting dynamics of clinical detachment yet voyeurist investment of viewing time. “The work couples the idea of ‘voyeur’ and ‘investigator’ and effectively throws open the distinction between the two.”2 Can one measure the distance from author to viewer? How close is this relationship? How public is our artistic practice?
2 Robert Knafo, “On the Paleontology—Democracy Continuum,” SV (Studio Visit) Magazine online, www.studiovisit.net
Alexandra do Carmo
50 Richards, intallation/video, 35 min loop, Location One 2004 50 Richards (2004)
In composing a soundtrack for 50 Richards I attempt to create a continuous shifting between involvement and isolation. I try to manipulate these relations
of sound to the visual material as much as the relations of the viewer to the environment outside of the presented work. Sometimes the sound has an immediate relationship to the actions that can be seen in the video; isolating the viewer deeper inside the world of the studio.
The sound gradually drifts in and out of musical elements mixed in with the sound of the actions in the studio, and eventually these musical sounds blur the borders between a musical backdrop relating to the studio space to an exclusively musical environment which isolates the viewer from the gallery space in which the work is being presented.
Paul de Jong
