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Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller
Hill Climbing, 1999

Video Still: Courtesy the artists

Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller

Collection

Single-channel video installation, color, sound
45 sec

Hill Climbing is a 45-second film to be viewed on a monitor while wearing headphones. A man is heard walking to the top of a snow-covered hill in the footsteps of his dog. Seeing only the climb ahead, viewers hear the crunch of boots in the snow, the man gasping, and, at one point, falling. The dog runs by as a voice from behind says, “Are you ok?” The film loops, rendering the summit unreachable and the afternoon endless.

Through the artists’ use of the binaural recording technique – a way of recording that places microphones in the ears of a dummy head – the film can be experienced three-dimensionally as if the noises and voices are inside one’s head, or whispered into one’s ear – as if we are actually there. A “dummy head recording” refers to a specific method of capturing audio, generally using a bust including pinnae (outer ears). As one's pinnae are unique, and the filtering they impose on sound directionality is learned by individuals from early childhood, the use of pinnae during recording, that are not the same as those of the eventual listener, may lead to perceptual confusion. The effect is suggestive and hypnotic, taking visitors on a magical mystery tour beyond their everyday world.

Artist's Website

http://www.cardiffmiller.com

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Artists

Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller

Janet Cardiff & George Bures MillerHill Climbing, 1999

Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller
Hill Climbing, 1999