Gary Hill: Hand Heard/Liminal Object

Overview

This essay, discussing a two-part installation at Galerie des Archives in Paris by the internationally celebrated artist, Gary Hill, explores the enigmatic nature of the work of art as an object and of objects in general, as such issues pertain to Hill's work and these installations in particular. The text is by two well-known poet/artists who have a long history of association and collaboration with Gary Hill. This book is handsomely illustrated with photographs of the installation and other relevant works by Hill and is presented in a bilingual, French-English edition.Excerpts from the text:There are works of art that require initiation. This does not mean that they require explanation, special consensus, or any other prescriptive bearing. It does mean that one must discover an appropriate mode of entry which is more than informational. This can involve radical reorientation, as in the case of HanD HearD, which directly (but non-coercively) introduces us to the posture of awareness appropriate to our participation in the piece.Considering more particularly the piece HanD HearD, we discover that its way of being a text imposes nothing on the mind, yet it offers an image (a hand in front of a person's face) as a possible posture of awareness. And because the text has no content other than this posture, it grants the participant direct access from the beginning.

Author Biography

George Quasha is the co-founder of Barrytown/Station Hill Press. He is a poet and artist who works across mediums to explore principles in common within language, sculpture, drawing, video, sound, installation, and performance. His awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in poetry (1975), and a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in video art (2006). Stein is author of thirteen books including a translation of The Odyssey; a vision of the Eleusinian Mysteries, Persephone Unveiled; a study of poet Charles Olson, The Secret of the Black Chrysanthemum; and a study of Gary Hill, The Art of Limina. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut and lives in Barrytown, New York. For more, www.charlessteinpoet.com.