“The Event of a Thread” draws inspiration from the act of reading aloud and its relation to the varied experiences of speaking, listening, and recording.
Ann Hamilton’s installation “The Event of a Thread” at the Park Avenue Armory, concocts an intricate pulley system that interconnects swings, bells, pulleys, and an enormous white sheet. The largescale swings reminded us of memories as a young child. Many people enjoyed the installation lying down directly below the billowing sheet. Additionally, the graceful arch of the armory was accentuated by the undulating sheet. Albeit temporary, the sheet became it’s own architectural element in an ethereal, weightless way. She also manipulates nature by putting pidgeons into cages whilst actors read Aristotle from long, handwritten scrolls.
Over the duration of the exhibition, a succession of attendant readers, two at a time, will read aloud while seated at a table near the drill hall’s entrance. Their live voices will become a constant presence broadcast throughout the installation on a radio bandwidth designed to occupy a single city block, the physical footprint of Park Avenue Armory. Visitors will be provided with radio receivers, enabling them to “carry” the voices as they traverse the installation. On the opposite end of the expansive drill hall, an attendant writer—a quiet presence and visual counterpoint to the readers—will inscribe a response to the radio transmissions, the reading voices, and the room behind them as seen in a mirror reflection.
At the center of the installation, a field of over 40 swings suspended from the hall’s elliptical wrought iron structural trusses will connect via ropes and pulleys to a massive cloth that bisects the space and will be animated by the movement of the swings. The shifting constellations of people gathered and invited to use the swings will create a complex kinetic system and an experience of communal connectivity.
Venue: 643 Park Avenue. New York, NY 10065. USA.
Open Hours: Wednesday, December 5, 2012 – Sunday, January 6, 2013
Tuesdays – Sundays: 12:00pm – 7:00pm. Closed Mondays except December 24 and 31. Closed December 25.
