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14/2/2014 Ann Hamilton Studio

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CURRENT

BIOGRAPHY

CONTACT

PROJECTS

OBJECTS

PRINTS

VIDEO/ SOUND

PUBLICPROJECTS

PERFORMANCES

SCRIPTS

PUBLICATIONS

SELECTED PRESS

2012 the event of a thread

2012 air for everyone

2010stylus

2009 human carriage

2007 tower

2006 The Meditation Boat

2006 voce

2005phora

2004 corpus

2004 aloud

2002 lignum

2001 the picture is still

2000ghost... a border act

1999 myein

1997 kaph

1997 mattering

1997 bounden

1994 lineament

1994 tropos

1991 indigo blue1989privation and excesses

1988still life

tropos | 1993-1994

Dia Center for the Arts

New York, NY

Materials: translucent industrial glass windows, gravel topped with concrete, horsehair, table, chair, electric buren,

books, recorded voice, audiotape, audiotape player, speakers

The Greek word "tropos" means turn, as in a physical turn of the body. The biological term "tropism" denotes the reflex

reaction or response of an organism to turn t oward or away from external stimuli, such as light.

Hamilton's relatively restrained, austere treatment of this former factory space immediately focused viewers' attent ion

on an image/activity occurring at its center. The walls, ceiling, and pillars of the immense (app roximately 5,000-square-

foot) room were unaltered, but t he clear windows were rep laced with t ranslucent, textured industrial panes, bathing the

space in hazy light. T hrough this light, viewers at t he entrance saw and were drawn toward a solitary f igure seated at a

small metal desk in the center of t he space. An acrid odor of smoke and burning permeated the air. Its source became

evident as viewers came closer to the seated figure. As t he attendant read abook, she/he burned away the p rinted text

line by line. The figure remained absorbed in this t ask, ritualistic in its deliberateness. Over t he duration of the piece, the

text -- t ransformed into smoke -- became absorbed as smell into the horsehair that covered the entire floor.

The horsehair, sewn in bundles, seemed to rise and fall like sea swells over a subtly graded concrete sub-floor. The ocean

of hair surrounded and isolated the figure. The sounds and the difficulty of walking on this dense blanket accentuated

viewers' awareness of their presence and movement in t he space. M ovement t hrough the sp ace also activated the audio

component of t he installation, the low murmur of a man struggling to speak. His voiceemanated from nine speakers

located outside the windows at the p erimeter of the room, dist urbing the almost reverential silence.

This p iece was highlighted in the PBS Series "A rt 21." (more information)

Photo credit: Thibault Jeanson

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

For a full list of participants who made tropos possible, click here.

Related Readings:

Smith, Roberta. "Ann Hamilton: Tropos." The New York Times (October 22, 1993): C24.

McGee, Celia. "A Certified 'Genius' Tangles with Horsehair." The New York Times (October 3, 1993): Section 2: 41.

Larson, Kay. "Miro, Miro on the Wall [includes review of tropos]." New York Magazine (November 1, 1993): 98.

Phillips, Patricia C. "Ann Hamilton: DIA Center for the Arts." Artforum vol. 32, no. 6 (February 1994): 90.

Rimanelli, Dav id. "Ann Ham ilton: DIA Center for the Arts, New York." frieze Issue #15 (March/April 1994): 59-60.

http://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/images/projects/tropos/AH_tropos_acknowledgements.jpghttp://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/hamilton/card3.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/videosound/tropos_voice.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/objects/tropos_books.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/stilllife.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/privationandexcesses.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/indigoblue.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/tropos.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/lineament.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/bounden.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/mattering.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/kaph.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/myein.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/ghostaborderact.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/thepictureisstill.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/lignum.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/aloud.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/corpus.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/phora.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/voce.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/meditationboat.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/tower.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/human_carriage.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/stylus.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/air_for_everyone.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projects/armory.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/selectedpress.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/publications.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/scripts.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/performances.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/public.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/videosound.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/prints.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/objectsMORE.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/projectsMORE.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/contact.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/biography.htmlhttp://www.annhamiltonstudio.com/current.html