Disturbance (among the jars), 1988
Mixed media installation
Seven modified 27-inch color video monitors (cathode ray tubes removed from chassis), two painted MDF-board platforms, seven straight-back wooden chairs, two speakers, seven-channel synchronizer, seven laserdisc players and seven laserdiscs (color; one with stereo sound)
Dimensions variable; requiring two platforms (one including two stairs on either end that functions as a veranda) which measure 18 x 324 x 54 in. (45 x 822 x 137 cm.) each (the depth of the chair platform/veranda is variable)
Unique
Note: The work was commissioned directly from the artist by the Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, in 1988.
Disturbance (among the jars) is a multi-lingual adaptation of selected Gnostic texts from the Nag Hammadi library discovered in 1945/46. The structure of the piece is based around the metaphor of fragmentation, more specifically, that of a broken sentence reflecting the original condition of many of the texts. In a completely white room lit with several thousand watts of light, a veranda with seven straight-back wooden chairs faces a low pedestal of the same height on which seven 27-inch bare cathode ray tubes (display bulbs of video monitors) are positioned to form a fragmented line. The positions of the monitors can be seen in a multiplicity of ways. Monitors 1 and 2 on the far left are placed like an opened book and function as mirrors, dyads and doubles throughout the work. When not linked to the continuous “sentence” by the extended panorama, monitors 3, 4 and 5 in the middle can be seen as a triad and literally provide the possibility of the most continuous unbroken image. Monitor 6 is, as it were, broken off from the triad (the broken image; the broken word; the gap), but the position of the viewer closes the break, and a quaternion becomes present. Monitor 7 on the far right is the monad, the point of view or source.
The texts were reworked by the artist and, in many cases, by the performers – including actors, persons off the street, poets and writers – themselves. (For example, the sound poet Bernard Heidsieck created a sound text from The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, and the philosopher Jacques Derrida wove together lines and phrases from the Gospel of Thomas, ultimately appearing in a kind of cameo role as “The Philosopher.”)
These performances, recorded in the same bright white light of the installation, are interwoven with landscapes from the Cathar country of France and are juxtaposed with encrusted texts that seemingly crawl “through” the video space of the seven monitors. This horizontal movement is further emphasized with the image of a large snake that appears to also pass through all of the monitors as it negotiates a number of pomegranates strewn across the floor space. As the snake makes its way, we hear a spoken text consisting of more than thirty different languages unfold.
This work was made while Hill was an artist-in-residence at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and a recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Selections of text and original recordings of performing done in collaboration with George Quasha.
Lighting: Christophe Chevalin
Camera: Gary Hill and Jacques Nibert
Editing: Timothy Miller
Production: Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée national d’art moderne, Christine Van Assche
Production Assistant: Christian Diebold
Performers (in order of appearance):
Jacques Derrida
Anne Angelini
Myriam Tadesse
Jacqueline Cahen
Joseph Gugliemi
Bernard Heidsieck
Claude Royet-Journoud
Pierre Joris
Irene Pool
George Quasha
François Jacqueson (voice only)
This work was first publicly exhibited at the Musée d’art moderne, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France, January 19 – February 19, 1989.
“Machination,” Saint-Gervais, Gèneve, Switzerland, April 24 – 26 and May 1 – 3, 1989.
“Passages de l’image,” Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, September 18 – November 19, 1990. Travelled to: Centre Cultural de la Fundació, Caixa de Pensions, Barcelona, Spain, February 11 – March 31, 1991; The Power Plant, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 10 – June 16, 1991; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, July 12 – October 27, 1991; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California, February 6 – April 12, 1992.
“Gary Hill,” (travelling exhibition organized by the Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France), Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France, November 25, 1992 – January 24, 1993; Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM), Centre del Carme,Valencia, Spain, February 26 – May 2, 1993; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 28 – October 10, 1993; Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria, November 17, 1993 – January 9, 1994.
“Gary Hill,” Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Quebec, Canada, January 30 – May 3, 1998.
“Gary Hill: Selected Works,” Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Wolfsburg, Germany, November 10, 2001 – March 10, 2002. (Note: This work was not included in the travelling venue at Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, Portugal, October 10, 2002 – January 12, 2003.).
“Video, An Art, A History 1965 – 2005 New Media Collection, Centre Pompidiou,” CaixaForum, Barcelona, Spain, September 27, 2005 – January 8, 2006; Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, April 28 – July 3, 2006; MAC (Miami Art Central), Miami, Florida, September 19 – December 10, 2006; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia; December 14, 2006 – February 25, 2007; ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image), Melbourne, Australia, March 22 – May 27, 2007.
Gary Hill: DISTURBANCE (among the jars). Villeneuve d’Ascq, France: Musée d’Art Moderne, 1988, unpaginated.
Fargier, Jean-Paul. “Z. Rybczinski et G. Hill: La ligne, le point, le pli: a propos de La quatrieme dimension et Disturbance.” Cahiers du Cinema 415 (January 1989), pp. 60 – 63.
La Chance, Michaël. “Vidéognose.” Spirale, Montreal (May – June 1998), pp. 12, 13.
Mittenthal, Robert. “Video’s Event: Gary Hill Catastrophe.” Reflex 3, 6 (November/December 1989), pp. 12, 13.
Mittenthal, Robert. Gary Hill: And Sat Down Beside Her. Paris: Galerie des Archives, 1990, unpaginated.
Passages de l’image. Paris: Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, 1990, pp. 54, 55, 158 – 161, 191. (In Spanish: Passages de l’image. Barcelona: Centre Cultural de la Fundació Caixa de Pensions, 1991, pp. 71, 73, 174 – 179, 223.)
Van Assche, Christine. “Restless Images.” Galeries Magazine (April/May 1990), p. 176.
Fargier, Jean-Paul. “Défense de Doubler.” art press 147 (May 1990), p. 70.
Devriendt, Christine and Paul-Emmanuel Odin. “L'image comme une aiguille qui ecrit au bout des mots Site Recite (a prologue) une video de Gary Hill.” Kanal 6 (May 1990), p. 54.
De Baecque, Antoine. “Iconoclastes, iconolâtres.” Cahiers du Cinema 435 (September 1990), p. 58.
Odin, Paul-Emmanuel. “Les Extremites du Visible.” Kanal (October 1990).
Camard, Florette. “Passages de l’image.” Galeries Magazine (October/November 1990).
Evola, Dario. “Al Centro Georges Pompidou Passages de l‘image.” Farevideo (November 1990).
Drateln, Doris V. “Passages de l’image.” Kunstforum (November/December 1990).
Lageira, Jacinto. “Gary Hill: The Imager of Disaster.” Galeries Magazine (December 1990/January 1991), pp. 75, 76.
Gary Hill: Between Cinema and a Hard Place. Paris: OCO, Espace d’art contemporain, 1991, unpaginated.
Huhtamo, Erkki. “Uusien kuvien pujotteluvyöhyke.” Kulttuuri (January 8, 1991).
Lageira, Jacinto. “Gary Hill. Une verbalisation du regard.” Parachute 62 (April/May/June 1991), p. 9.
Sarrazin, Stephen. “Objecten die leven Spreken, Tapes die Leren Zwijgen.” Andere Sinema 104 (July/August 1991), p. 23.
Pencenat, Corinne. “L’Experience Limite de Gary Hill.” Beaux Arts (October 1991), p. 113.
Romano, Gianni. “Inasmuch as it is always already taking place.” LAPIZ 80 (October 1991), pp. 36, 38, 39.
Phillip, Christopher. “Between pictures. Passages of the image. Wexner Center for the Visual Arts, Columbus, Ohio.” Art in America 79 (November 1991), pp. 112, 113, 173.
Van Assche, Christine. Gary Hill. Paris: Editions du Centre Georges Pompidou, 1992, pp. 4 – 6, 11, 19, 40 – 44, 64 – 67, 80. (Including an excerpt from Gary Hill, “Inter-view”).
Watari, Shizuko. Gary Hill – I Believe It Is an Image. Tokyo: WATARI-UM, The Watari Museum of Contemporary Art, 1992, unpaginated.
Sarrazin, Stephen. Chimaera Monographe No. 10 (Gary Hill). Montbéliard, France: Centre International de Création Vidéo Montbéliard, Belfort, 1992, pp. 43 – 45, 56, 82. (Including an excerpt from an interview with Gary Hill).
Sarrazin, Stephen. “La parole aux objets.” art press 165, France (January 1992), p. 22.
Morse, Margaret. “Site Specifics: Passages de l’image at the San Francisco Museum of Art in the Context of American Image Culture.” Video Networks, San Francisco 16, 2 (April/May 1992), p. 8.
Fargier, Jean-Paul. “Gary Hill sur la crête des vagues.” Jardin des Modes (December 1992).
Husson, Didier. “Galaxie Garry Hill: messages à décoder.” Vidéo Camera (December 1992).
Cooke, Lynne. “Gary Hill: ‘Who am I but a figure of speech?’” Parkett 34 (1992), pp. 17, 18.
Gary Hill: In Light of the Other. Oxford: Museum of Modern Art Oxford and Liverpool: The Tate Gallery Liverpool, 1993, p. 8.
Mignot, Dorine. Gary Hill. Amsterdam: Stedelijk Museum and Vienna: Kunsthalle Wien, 1993, pp. 15, 41, 57, 60, 64 – 69, 73, 77, 101, 108, 112. (Including an excerpt from Gary Hill, “Inter-view”).
Van Assche, Christine and Corinne Diserens. Gary Hill. Valencia: Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderno (IVAM), Centre del Carme, 1993, pp. 8 – 10, 15, 23, 44 – 48, 68 – 71, 84, 102, 103, 107, 108, 145. (Including an excerpt from Gary Hill, “Inter-view”).
Das 21. Jahrhundert – Mit Paracelsus in die Zukunft. Basel: Kunsthalle Basel, 1993, pp. 84, 85.
Cooke, Lynne, Bice Curiger and Greg Hilty. DOUBLETAKE: Collective Memory and Current Art. London: Hayward Gallery, 1992, pp. 158, 213.
Barbichon, Jean-Yves. “Gary Hill: maître-mot.” NOV’Art (February 1993).
Durand, Régis. “Gary Hill. Centre Georges-Pompidou Galeries contemporaines.” art press 177 (February 1993), p. 80.
“Las creaciones de Guillermo Kuitca y Gary Hill en los espacios de Centre del Carme.” Pais Valenciano (February 26 – March 4, 1993), p. 15.
Marco, C. D. “Valencia: Gary Hill.” ABC de las artes (March 26, 1993), p. 36.
Sarrazin, Stephen. “Gary Hill. Dai un senso a ciò che muovi.” Flash Art XXVI, 174 (April 1993), p. 35. (In English: “Gary Hill: mean what you move.” Flash Art (International Edition) 173 (November/December 1993), p. 87.)
Barcott, Bruce. “Donald Young Gallery, Seattle.” New Art Examiner, Chicago (May 1993), p. 51.
Den Hartog Jager, Hans. “Droomwereld.” HP de Tijd (September 3, 1993), pp. 113, 115.
Braet, Jan. “Schepen in de nacht.” KNACK (September 15, 1993), pp. 131, 132.
Murin, Preložil Michal. “Gary Hill.” Profil. Súcasného Výtvarného Umenia (December 1993), p. 28.
De Rijcke, Elke. “Dageraad of avondschemer over de video-installaties van Gary Hill.” Metropolis M 1 (1993), pp. 26, 27, 29.
Bruce, Chris. Gary Hill. Seattle, Washington: Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, 1994, pp. 83, 86, 97.
Willis, Holly, ed. Gary Hill. Spinning the Spur of the Moment. Irvington, New York: The Voyager Company, 1994, pp. 4, 10.
Vogel, Sabine B. “Im Licht des Monitors Gary Hill.” Artis (December 1994/January 1995), pp. 45, 46.
Vischer, Theodora, ed. Gary Hill: Imagining the Brain Closer than the Eyes. Basel: Museum für Gegenwartskunst; Ostfildern: Cantz, 1995, p. 113. (In German: Gary Hill: Arbeit am Video. Basel: Museum für Gegenwartskunst; Ostfildern: Cantz, 1995, p. 119.)
Nagy, Pál. Az irodalom úm mufajai. Budapest: Magyar Muhely, 1995, pp. 330, 351.
Quasha, George and Charles Stein. Gary Hill: HanD HearD/liminal objects. Paris: Galerie des Archives; Barrytown, New York: Station Hill Arts, 1996, unpaginated.
Lestocart, Louis-José. “Gary Hill: Surfer sur le medium / Surfing the Medium.” art press 210 (February 1996), p. 25.
Suchère, Eric. “Gary Hill Le Trafiquant d’ Images.” Beaux Arts 142 (February 1996), pp. 67, 68.
Quasha, George and Charles Stein. Tall Ships. Gary Hill’s Projective Installations 2. Barrytown, New York: Station Hill Arts, 1997, pp. 41, 42, 48, 49, 54.
Quasha, George and Charles Stein. Viewer. Gary Hill’s Projective Installations 3. Barrytown, New York: Station Hill Arts, 1997, pp. 52, 56, 77.
The Multimedia and Cultural Revolution. Tokyo: NTT Intercommunication Center, 1997, pp. 131, 132.
Bélisle, Josée. Gary Hill. Montreal: Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, 1998, pp. 9, 10, 16, 21 – 25, 33, 39, 55.
Phillips, Christopher. Voices = Voces = Voix. Rotterdam: Center for Contemporary Art; Barcelona: Fundació Joan Miró; and Tourcoing: Le Fresnoy, Studio national des arts contemporain, 1998, p. 12.
Der elektronische Raum: 15 Positionen zur Medienkunst. Bonn: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Dueuschland, 1998, pp. 148, 149.
TV Dinner No. 2 at The Kitchen: Gary Hill and Meg Stuart. Program notes. New York: The Kitchen, 1998, unpaginated.
Aquin, Stephanie. “Gary Hill – Vague de fond.” Voir, Montreal (February 12, 1998), p. 25.
Campeau, Sylvain. “Epistémologie de la réalité visuelle: Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montréal.” Vie des Arts, Montreal 42, 170 (Spring 1998), p. 82.
Tougas, Colette. “Gary Hill. Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, 30 janvier – 26 avril.” Parachute 90 (April - June 1998), p. 43.
Bellemare-Brière, Véronique. “Gary Hill – La vidéo reine au MAC.” Séquences, Montreal 196 (May – June 1998), p. 55.
La Chance, Michaël. “Vidéognose.” Spirale, Montreal (May – June 1998), pp. 12 – 14.
Fraser, Marie. “Letter from Montreal: May 1998.” C-Magazine 58 (May-August 1998), p. 41.
Provencher, Louise. “Catastrophe(s) en ou le bégaiement du temps,” Espace 44, Montreal (Summer 1998), p. 26.
Bellemare-Brière, Véronique. “La vidéo s’éclate.” Esse, Montreal 4 (1998), p. 5.
“Liminal Performance: Gary Hill in Conversation with George Quasha and Charles Stein,” PAJ (Performing Arts Journal) No. 58, Vol. XX, No. 1 (January 1998), pp. 4, 10, 13, 14, 16.
Kold, Anders, ed. Gary Hill. Aarhus: Aarhus Kunstmuseum, 1999, p. 42.
Frames of Reference: The Rockefeller Foundation Film/Video/Multimedia Fellowship Awards 1988-1999. New York: The Rockefeller Foundation, 1999, p. 11.
Morgan, Robert C., ed. Gary Hill. Baltimore: PAJ Books / The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000, pp. 21 – 25, 34 – 35, 56, 86 – 87, 88, 138, 221, 238, 251, 255 – 257, 294 – 295.
Gary Hill en Argentina: textos, ensayos, dialogos. Buenos Aires: Centro Cultural Recoleta, 2000, pp. 11, 32, 34 - 35.
Gary Hill: Instalaciones. Córdoba: Ediciones Museo Caraffa, 2000, pp. 40, 43 – 44.
Quasha, George and Charles Stein. La performance elle-même in Gary Hill: Around & About: A Performative View. Paris: Éditions du Regard, 2001, pp. 46, 54, 62 – 64, 78, 79, 87 – 88, 101, 107.
Gary Hill: Selected Works and catalogue raisonné. Wolfsburg: Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, 2002, GHCR 60, pp. 24, 41 – 45, 133 – 135.
Commitment: The Rockefeller Foundation Media Arts Fellowships 1988 – 2002. New York: The Rockefeller Foundation, 2002, pp. 7, 106.
Barro, David. Gary Hill: Poeta da percepção, poet of perception, poeta de la percepción. In Portuguese, Spanish and English. Porto: Mimesis, 2003, pp. 14 – 15, 24, 25, 36, 37, 38, 41, 58 – 59, 60.
Plate, Brent. “The State of the Arts and Religion: Some Thoughts on the Future of a Field,” in Ena Giuresca Heller, ed., Reluctant Partners (New York: The Gallery at the American Bible Society, 2004), pp. 48 – 65.
Contrepoint: L’Art contemporain au Louvre. Paris: Connaissance des Arts, 2004, pp. 18 – 19.
Zwingenberger, Jeanette. “Gary Hill, quand penser c’est voir.” L’Oeil 555 (February 2004), pp. 24 – 25.
Schwabsky, Barry. “Gary Hill.” Contemporary 71 (2005), pp. 58 – 60.
Gary Hill: Resounding Arches / Archi Risonanti. (Catalogue and DVD.) Rome: Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali Soprintendenza archeologica di Roma, and Milan: Mondadori Electa S.p.A., 2005, pp. 142 – 143.
Tiempos de Vídeo. 1965 – 2005. Colección nouveaux médias del Centre Pompidou con la participación de la colección de Arte Contemporaneo Fundacion “la Caixa.” Barcelona: Fundación “la Caixa,” 2005, pp. 15, 16, 20, 23, 33, 35, 36, 40, 41, 88 – 91, 92 – 93, 181. In Spanish. Texts by Jacinto Lageira.
Samaniego, Alberto Ruiz de. “Gary Hill and Maurice Blanchot: Dialogues at the Threshold.” Dardo magazine, 2 (June – September 2006), pp. 146 – 179.
Odin, Paul-Emmanuel. L’absence de livre [Gary Hill et Maurice Blanchot – Écriture, vidéo]. Marseille: La Compagnie, 2007, pp. 70 – 84.
Quasha, George and Charles Stein. An Art of Limina: Gary Hill’s Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafa, 2009, pp. 24, 35, 40, 294, 321, 471, 472, 474 – 475, 493, 506 – 507, 521, 577, 617.
Gagnon, Jean. “Gary Hill à la recherche de la perte technologique / An Interview with Gary Hill.” artpress 2: Arts Technologiques - Conservation et Restauration (February/March/April 2009), pp. 10 – 21. (French and English).
Copeland, Colette. “Rooted in the Experiential: A Conversation with Gary Hill.” Afterimage, 37, 3 (November/December 2009), pp. 22.
Gary Hill: Viewer. Moscow: GMG Gallery, 2010 (in Russian and English), pp. 34, 35.
The work is a multi-lingual adaptation of Gnostic texts unearthed in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt. Excerpts were adapted from the following texts:
The Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Truth
The Apocryphon of John
Authoritative Teaching
The Gospel of the Egyptians
On the Origin of the World
The Gospel of Mary
The Gospel of Philip
Trimorphic Protennoia
The Thunder, Perfect Mind