Aural Fixation

The technology and social effects of typography incline us to abstain from noting interplay and, as it were, “formal” causality, both in our inner and external lives. … the visual homogenizing of experience of print culture, and the relegation of auditory and other sensuous complexity to the background. […] – Marshall Mchulan

In Aural Fixation, I sat down with each performer, individually having conversations, about past times, these ranged from family life, favorite foods, drinks, parties, fears and regrets.

In the gallery the performers acted as containers for these stories. The stories were recorded onto magnetic tape, this was then placed within their mouths, and connected to listening post. Audience members extracted the stories from the performers bodies using a wooden handle. As the audience members cranked the handle, a smeared, distorted version of the past experience was played within the gallery. With enough skill and labor, the audience member could turn the crank at the correct tempo to hear the coherent playback. Aural Fixation explored media as a control mechanism for constructing our history.