Conundrum, 1995-98
Mixed media installation
Six 14-inch black-and-white video monitors (cathode ray tubes removed from chassis) inset in steel structure with perforated sheeting, tone-controlled video switcher utilizing two inputs and six outputs, one laserdisc player and one laserdisc (black-and-white; silent)
Dimensions: 10 ½ h. x 71 x 13 in. (26.6 x 180.3 x 33 cm.)
Edition of six and one artist’s proof
The efforts of a prone clothed male figure (the artist) repeatedly attempting to get up appear in a continual display (feet-to-head and back again) across six monitors mounted horizontally on the wall within a fabricated steel structure. The image has been digitally edited into a linear sequence of two frame length units, each being delayed one after next using a mathematical structure. The delay is equal to the time it takes for the image to pass across a single screen. Each screen displays the exact same images but at different times, creating a composite figure – an exquisite corpse of time. The two frame edits are digitally routed to the six monitors in the following pattern (only one is on at any given moment): black, 1, 1-2, 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4-5, 1-2-3-4-5-6, 2-3-4-5-6, 3-4-5-6, 4-5-6, 5-6, 6, black, 6, 6-5, 6-5-4, 6-5-4-3, 6-5-4-3-2, 6-5-4-3-2-1, 5-4-3-2-1, 4-3-2-1, 3-2-1, 2-1, 1, black. As each image is added to the sequence, the movement of all the images slows down proportionally to the number of images being displayed (speed ratios: 1/1, 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, 1/6).
An example of this work was first exhibited by Donald Young Gallery at Art Chicago 1998, Chicago, Illinois, May 8 – 12, 1998.
Solo exhibition. Donald Young Gallery, Seattle, Washington, May 16 – August 15, 1998.
Donald Young Gallery at Art 29’98 Basel, Switzerland, June 10 – 15, 1998.
“Silent Treatment,” Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado, December 17, 1998 – February 14, 1999.
“The Uncanny: Experiments in Cyborg Culture,” Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, February 9 – May 26, 2002; Edmonton Art Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta; November 30, 2002 – February 23, 2003; Medel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, June 6 –September 7, 2003.
“Perspectives @ 25,” Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, Texas, October 16, 2004 – January 9, 2005.
“W.O.W. (The Work of the Work) at Western Bridge,” (organized by the Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington) Western Bridge, Seattle, Washington, November 6, 2004 - February 5, 2005.
“Logical Conclusions: 40 Years of Rule-Based Art,” Pace Wildenstein, New York, New York, February 18 – March 26, 2005.
“Image, Body, Text: Selected Works by Gary Hill,” San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California, March 24 – May 30, 2005.
“On History,” Fundación Santander Central Hispano, Madrid, Spain, February 6 – Spring 2007.
"Gary Hill," James Harris Gallery at Pier 94 — The Armory Show (Contemporary), Seattle, Washington, March 5 — 8, 2015.
"Gary Hill," Bitforms Gallery at Basel Art Fair (featured) , Switzerland, June 9 – 14, 2018.
"Gary Hill: Momentombs," Suwon Museum of Art, Suwon, Korea, November 26, 2019 – March 6, 2020.
Silent Treatment: Projecting Narrative. Program notes. Aspen, Colorado: Aspen Art Museum, 1998, unpaginated.
Gompertz, Will, ed. ZOO 3 (October 1999), p. 179.
Gary Hill: Selected Works and catalogue raisonné. Wolfsburg: Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, 2002, pp. 217.
Grenville, Bruce, ed. The Uncanny: Experiments in Cyborg Culture. Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery, 2001, pp. 36 – 37, 204 – 205, 274.
Perspectives @ 25: A Quarter Century of New Art in Houston. Houston: Contemporary Arts Museum, 2004, pp. 67, 129, 169, 183, 192.
Brown, Elizabeth. WOW: The Work of the Work. Seattle: Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, 2005, pp. 10, 13, 14, 54, 56, 58, 60.
Logical Conclusions: 40 Years of Rule-Based Art. New York: PaceWildenstein, 2005, pp. 134 – 135.
Sobre la Historia / On History. Madrid: Fundación Santander Central Hispano, 2007, pp. 16, 68 – 69.
Quasha, George and Charles Stein. An Art of Limina: Gary Hill’s Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafa, 2009, pp. 37, 573.