((works by )) T A K E H I T O / E T A N I

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

|7days|

-A sound installation-

Shown at an exhibit, "Seeing double: Encounters with Warhol," The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh
Feb 19 - May 1, 2005

 

Heartbeats and ambient sound

In a course of one full week between Jan. 24th -30th, 2004, Etani recorded his heartbeats from morning to evening, 18 hours each day with a stethoscope microphone taped on his chest. At the same time he recorded the ambient sounds picked up by a regular small microphone clipped on his shirt.

The unedited sound of his each day was played back from two speakers at the installation; left speaker for the heartbeats and the right speaker for the ambient sounds. The speakers were set up at a L-shaped stairway that connects the museum shop on the first floor and the basement cafeteria.

The installation

As one walks down the stairs, s/he notices the sounds coming out from the speaker by the window above the stairs: sound of traffic, sound of the artist hitting the computer keys in his studio, preparing breakfast, going into the bathroom, climbing up and down the stairs, etc. As the visitor walks down the narrow stairs, s/he will notice the rhythmical heartbeats from the other end of the corridor, sometime faint and slow, sometime in strong and fast burst according to the physical and mental situation of the artist at the time of the recordings.

 

7 recordings for a week

7 different unedited recordings were prepared (18 hours each). Everyday the recordings played at the installation space were alternated among the 7 recordings corresponding days of a week. To avoid recording his own voice, the artist remained silent during the recordings.

Warhol

The project was inspired by Warhol's “"Empire"” as well as Warholian desire to record passing moments around the artist himself.

Exhibitions

2005: Seeing double: Encounters with Warhol, The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh
Thanks to: Cardionics Inc.  for the free lending of their equipment.

 

 

The present moment and the time of the recordings synchronize as the sun shines through the large windows onto the stairwell and cast the ever-changing shadow as the day goes.
   
  Sound excerpt
(Use headphones to listen to the heartbeat sound)
         
  ((staircase)) 1 min 37 sec aif 16.4MB
  ((chips)) 1 min 10 sec aif 11.8MB
         
         
         
         
         
The first room
 
The museum shop and the entrance of the stairway
   
The speaker on the corner plays the ambient sound Looking up the stairway from the bottom. The sound of heartbeats is heard from the back