Objects with Destinations, 1979
Video (color, silent); 3:40 min.
Three black-and-white video cameras and Dave Jones prototype modules (analog-to-digital converter, digital-to-analog converter, bit switch, frame buffer, comparators with outline generators, variable hard/soft keyers, color field generators, output amplifier)
Objects from the artist’s studio (hammer, cathode ray tube, circuit board rack, chair, clip light) constitute the subjects for a series of short sequences in which a single object moves through a series of overlapping transformations. These are electronically altered in such a way that their coloration and contours continuously morph. As the transparent images are superimposed one upon the other and faded in and out, they become slightly displaced, giving the impression that the objects are “wandering” across the image plane. In some sequences, the contours and colors of the objects dissociate, or newly arising color fields spread across the pictorial surface. The superimpositions and cross-dissolves result in a minimal amount of action, consistent with the ‘destinations’ implied in the work’s title. As in Mirror Road, Bathing, and Windows, the artist uses images of everyday objects together with image processing devices to explore the malleability of electronic colors and image density.
Gary Hill has said of this work, “Following Windows, I was still looking for a vehicle to make sense out of a substantial number of circuits I’d spent way too many hours building with Dave Jones’ oversight. ‘Real time’ seemed so integral to the process that the actual image/object was almost a by-product—very much secondary to the ‘verb’ of transformation taking place ‘between.’ The focus was on what was happening; what kind of manipulation/processing took the pixels from one representation to another. As in so many cases, using what was at hand—what was around me—was the only way to keep it ‘live.’”
Quasha, George and Charles Stein. An Art of Limina: Gary Hill’s Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafa, 2009, p. 587.
Fifth Annual Ithaca Video Festival, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Ithaca, New York, April 24 – 30, 1979.
"Meet the Makers: Gary Hill.” Donnell Library, New York Public Library, New York, New York, June 14, 1979.
“Everson Video Revue,” Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, New York, September 1 – 30, 1979 and February 1 – March 2, 1980. Travelled to: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois, October 5 – November 4, 1979; University Art Gallery, University of California, Berkeley, California, November 10 – January 5, 1979; La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California, February – March 1981.
Solo screening. Pacific Film Archive, University of California, Berkeley, California, December 2, 1979.
“Beau Fleuve,” organized by Media Study/Buffalo, Buffalo, New York. Travelled to: Center for Media Art, American Center, Paris, France, December 3 – 7, 1979; L’Espace Lyonnais D’Action Culturelle (ELAC), Lyon, France, December 10 – December 14, 1979; Musée Cantini, Marseilles, France, December 17 – December 21, 1979; Media Study/Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, January 14 – 18, 1980.
"New York Video,” Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany, July 7 – August 2, 1981.
Solo exhibition. Center for Media Art, The American Center, Paris, France, December 13 – 15, 1983.
“Gary Hill Selected Videography,” JISC Plaza Video and International Cultural Community Services, Tokyo, Japan, March 16, 1984.
2e Semaine Internationale de Vidéo, Saint-Gervais Genève, Geneva, Switzerland, November 16 – 21, 1987.
Solo screening. Espace lyonnais d’art contemporain (ELAC), Lyon, France, July 26 and September 27, 1988.
Vidéoformes 89: Festival de la Création Vidéo, Clermont-Ferrand, France, April 20 – 29, 1989.
Solo exhibition. “OTHERWORDSANDIMAGES,” Video Galleriet, Huset, Denmark and Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark, April 20 – May 13, 1990.
“Gary Hill: O lugar do outro/where the other takes place,” Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 1 – 6, 1997 (not the full run of the exhibition); Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, October 3 – November 2, 1997.
Solo exhibition. Center for Contemporary Images, Saint-Gervais Genève, Geneva, Switzerland, September 9, 10, 1998.
“Gary Hill: Video Works,” NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo, Japan, February 16 – March 31, 1999.
Solo exhibition. Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires, Argentina, May 17 – June 4, 2000 (May 24, 2000 screening).
Solo exhibition. Museo Caraffa, Córdoba, Argentina, July 7 – 30, 2000 (July 8, 2000 screening).
"Hill(scape),” Extra Microwave Media Art Festival (organized by Videotage), Hong Kong Space Museum Lecture Hall, Hong Kong, January 14 – 31, 2001 (January 21 screening).
"l’écriture vidéophage – les bandes vidéo de Gary Hill.” La Compagnie, Marseille, France, May 1 – 31, 2001 (May 1 and 3 screenings).
“Gary Hill: Selected Works 1976 – 2003,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan, May 2 – August 24, 2003.
“Videographies – The Early Decades,” EMST (The National Museum of Contemporary Art), Athens, Greece, July 13 – December 31, 2005.
Third Annual Ithaca Video Festival. Program notes. Ithaca, New York: Ithaca Video Festival, 1977, unpaginated.
New Work in Abstract Video Imagery. Syracuse, New York: Everson Museum of Art, 1977, unpaginated.
The Fifth Annual Ithaca Video Festival. Program notes. Ithaca, New York: Ithaca Video Festival, 1979, unpaginated.
Jenkins, Bruce and John Minkowsky. Beau Fleuve. Buffalo, New York: Media Study/Buffalo, 1979, p. 5.
Everson Video Revue. Syracuse, New York: Everson Museum of Art, 1979, unpaginated.
Boyle, Deirdre. “Video Playback. Ithaca Video Festival – Ritual for a Media Age.” Sightlines (Fall 1979), p. 5.
"Beau Fleuve: Five Programs of Work by 27 Film and Video Makers from Buffalo.” Media Study/Bufflao (January – May 1980), p. 11.
Oeuvres vidéo de Gary Hill en sa présence. Center for Media Art. Program notes. Paris: American Center, 1983, unpaginated.
Furlong, Lucinda. "A Manner of Speaking: An Interview with Gary Hill." Afterimage 10, 8 (March 1983), p. 11.
Video: A Retrospective. 1974 – 1984. Long Beach, California: Long Beach Museum of Art, 1984, p. 55.
2e Semaine Internationale de Vidéo. Geneva: Saint-Gervais Genève, 1987, p. 126.
Vidéoformes '89: Festival de la Création Vidéo. Clermont-Ferrand, France: Festival de la Création Vidéo, 1989, p. 12.
Dantas, Marcello. Gary Hill: O lugar do outro/where the other takes place. Rio de Janeiro: Magnetoscópio, 1997, p. 69.
Gary Hill: Video Works. Tokyo: NTT InterCommunication Center, 1999, p. 14.
Ancona, Victor. “Ithaca Video: Margin Notes on A Movable Feast.” Videography, pp. 60 – 62.
Morgan, Robert C., ed. Gary Hill. Baltimore: PAJ Books / The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000, pp. 188.
Gary Hill en Argentina: textos, ensayos, dialogos. Buenos Aires: Centro Cultural Recoleta, 2000, p. 7.
Gary Hill: Instalaciones. Córdoba: Ediciones Museo Caraffa, 2000, p. 72.
Hill (scape): Gary Hill’s video screening, performance and installation exhibition. Program notes. Hong Kong: Videotage, 2001, p. 8.
Lageira, Jacinto. Des premiers mots aux derniers silences in Gary Hill: Around & About: A Performative View. Paris: Éditions du Regard, 2001, pp. 11, 13.
Gary Hill: Selected Works and catalogue raisonné. Wolfsburg: Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, 2002, pp. 20, 64, 66, 78.
Barro, David. Gary Hill: Poeta da percepção, poet of perception, poeta de la percepción. In Portuguese, Spanish and English. Porto: Mimesis, 2003, pp. 10, 31, 53.
Unfolding Vision: Gary Hill, Selected Works 1976 – 2003. Taipei: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2003, pp. 67 – 69.
Quasha, George and Charles Stein. An Art of Limina: Gary Hill’s Works and Writings. Barcelona: Ediciones Polígrafa, 2009, pp. 24, 587.