2001
Audio installation
Media: power amp speaker, video camera, computer, fabric, lights
Dimensions: 1000 sq.ft.
Duration: 01:25 loop

In this audio installation, tension is built between seeing and hearing. The sound is based on a call/song/chant sung in Arabic. The distant vocalization beckons the visitor toward the sound source. Motion sensors trigger a graduated volume decrease as the visitor approaches, however, so that the voice seems to recede rather than become more audible. Expectations for intimacy, resolution and full audio delivery are thwarted and the voice stays just out of reach. The psychological effect is one of frustration and discombobulation, but one is also left with the desire to follow the call, to grasp its source and meaning. It is often in the frustration of our efforts that those efforts are doubled and our attention is arrested.