The exhibition catalogue for Ann Hamilton: the Event of a Thread, which opened last night at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City, is published in the form of a twenty-four page newspaper. A copy is currently being accessioned into the Graphic Arts Collection.
Hamilton has transformed the 55,000-square-foot drill hall of the armory into a world of light and shadows, of text being written, text being spoken, and text being heard. The elements of the project are recorded in your catalogue: 11 steel trusses; 3,000,000 cubic feet of air; a white cloth; a field of swings; bells and bellows; a flock of pigeons; a reading table; a writing table; two readers; a concordance; a writer; a mirror; radio transmissions; a singer; a record lathe; a cloak of animal hair; a scroll; a pencil; a page; a score; a line of benches; a flock of radios; [and] a collection of coats.
“The readers’ scroll is constituted by a field of words whose graphic organization follows the structure of a concordance. Unlike indices which locate subject matter, concordances alphabetize the principal words used in a single text within the context of the sentence in which they appear. the alphabetized words run like a spine through the text, allowing the reader to examine the intersections of context and the frequency of their usage. a concordance is also an agreement, a harmony.”
It’s worth a trip just for the swings.
Listen to Hamilton talk about her work:
