12 September – 26 October, 2003
Installation with Carl Michael von Hausswolff.
Nicola Fornello Gallery, Prato, Italy.
Curated by Daniela Cascella
John Duncan’s SEE is a video installation made up of four separate and simultaneous projections of sequences taken from the JOHN SEE SERIES, adult movies he directed in 1986-87 during his stay in Japan. On entering the dark exhibition space, the viewer is assailed by immense flashes of images and sound cut-ups… In those moments in which the sound is softer, a voice emerges, whispering Japanese phrases until it is drowned once again by the wave of louder sounds.
Carl Michael von Hausswolff’s Thinner & Low Frequency Bar / Glue & High Frequency Lounge consists of two bars made of steel and glass on which lie bottles and cans containing volatile substances such as glue and thinner. On the bar two oscillators produce frequencies varying in intensity, whose sound penetrates the ears altering normal perception levels.
Both works fill the space perfectly, one by means of strong images (See), the other through the substances shown. The attention level is at its maximum in attempts to grasp the Japanese whispering (See) and the ghost-sounds of the oscillators (Thinner Bar…), defying the threshold of audibility as they act on the unconscious.
–Daniela Cascella
Photo © E. Bialkowska