Soundings

Gary Hill

1979, 18:03 min, color, sound


In Soundings, conceived by Hill as a work for broadcast, the found object of a loud speaker becomes the source for a sequence of image/sound/text constructs. A series of what Hill terms "processual rituals" ends with a text "from" the speaker, in which it describes its electronic, changing state as a relationship with the viewer. As Hill speaks about touch and sound in an extrapolated monologue, he buries the speaker in sand, drives a spike through it, sets it on fire and pours waters onto it.

Produced by the TV Lab at WNET/Thirteen, New York.