Attending to Presence: An Interview with Ann Hamilton

Abstract

144 Weaving. Unravelling. Burning. Engraving. Writing. Carding. Erasing. These are some of the actions that have been performed within the large-scale installations of Ann Hamilton. Amidst the gargantuan assemblage of horsehair in tropos (1993), the mountain of denim in indigo blue (1991), and other installations with evocative materials, individuals engage in simple, repetitive tasks ; their enigmatic presence forms a focal point in a context that often feels intimidating and vast. One could easily feel lost in the immensity, but witnessing an individual executing a humble activity provides a grounding that serves as an effective counterbalance. Such performers are at one with the ambiance of abundance, humanizing the massive accumulation while dramatizing its sublimity. Despite the prosaic gestures, they are compelling to watch. Unlike living museum interpreters or historical re-enactors, performers in Hamilton’s projects, whom she calls “attendants,” remain unresponsive to interactions with curious spectators. Absorbed in their tasks, the performers eschew role-playing ; their names may not be known to visitors, but their actions are rooted in their everyday personhood. Theatricality in the gestures and self-conscious displays of acting are downplayed. Instead, the performers convey an unusual calm in conducting their chores, whether ordinary or peculiar. In Hamilton’s works during the 1990s, visitors encountered environments in which a lone individual executed monotonous actions, like burning every line of text in the pages of a book (tropos) or using bread dough to make an impression of the mouth’s cavity (malediction, 1991). The live individual resisted categorization as an automaton, but neither could they be regarded as available in a social manner — their presence operated somewhere between a body and an object.1 Despite being silent, unassuming, and concentrating on their routine, they appeared cognizant of visitors around them. Observing their diligent, embodied activity subverted the convention of visualist distance that normally applies to aesthetic encounters. Hamilton’s attendants relate to the tradition of tableaux vivants, yet differ significantly. Nineteenth-century tableaux tended to be still ; that is, the individuals enacting the scenes held a static posture. Motion only occurred during the transition between one pose and the next. The moments of stillness cued the audience to recognize and admire the composed image.2 In Hamilton’s installations, however, stillness and motion happen simultaneously as seated or standing performers continue their task for the extent of gallery viewing hours throughout the weeks or months of the exhibition. The Ann Hamilton is an artist renowned for process-based works and immersive installations. Hamilton has received many awards, including a MacArthur Fellow ship, NeA Visual Arts Fellowship, and Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship. She represented the United States in the 1991 Sao Paulo Bienal, the 1999 Venice Biennale, and has exhibited extensively around the world. Her major commissions include projects for the Park Avenue Armory, the Guggenheim Museum, La Maison Rouge, Historiska Museet, MASS MOCA, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Wanas Foundation, the Stedelijk, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate Gallery Liverpool, Dia Center for the Arts, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Hamilton lives in Columbus and teaches at The Ohio State University. — www.annhamiltonstudio.com