Siren
2016
three-channel video installation with sound
16' diameter
This installation has three freestanding projection units, with spinning projectors and small, porthole-like screens. Each unit plays a clip of a singer, singing individual musical notes for the duration of one full breath. When the singer sings, her face stabilizes and remains steady; when her breath runs out, her face spins out into illegibility until the next note begins. The three projection units play simultaneously; clips cycle in and out of phase with one another, so that different combinations of notes can form: harmonies and disharmonies, solos, duets, and trios. There are rare moments when all three voices are singing, all three video images are poised in their unstable equilibria, and everything aligns for – at most – one breath's duration. These moments build, dissolve, and reform again in new combinations.
A breath is a simple physical act, but one with poetic potential as it relates to voice and speech. By linking the breath to the image’s attainment of equilibrium, I underscore the fragility, physicality, and necessity of that gesture. The image remains legible only while the breath is held – a duration as much felt as understood.