Artful Chatter: Tim Lloyd
If you’ve encountered the exhibition Joanna Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige: I Must First Apologize…, you’ve viewed videos, sculptures, and conceptual art that investigates a history of internet scams. What you won’t see is the invisible orchestra of technical equipment required to make the art work. We spoke with Tim Lloyd, Gallery Manager and Exhibition Designer at the List, to hear about what it took to create the immersive video and sound installations in the show.
How did you approach working with Joana and Khalil's exhibition?
Joana and Khalil’s works were recently presented in France and the UK. Sometimes at the List, we are mounting a brand new work and figuring out all the logistics from scratch. It was a luxury here to have had previous venues –not only to understand the pieces conceptually, but also to find out what worked and what could be improved upon. Here, I worked with the curator and artists to scale the installation to our space.
One of the standout works in the show is The Rumor of the World, an in-the-round installation comprised of videos of non-professional actors reading spam messages. The sound is cacophonous, but clarifies as viewers approach the individual screens. What were the challenges you encountered while planning and installing this piece?
In the planning stage, my issues were the design of the free-standing plinths to hold the monitors and sorting through the electronics coming from Europe to see what was compatible with US current. In the end we purchased all new televisions. During the installation, there were mundane but crucial matters like running power to 13 TVs, 13 media players, and USB hubs. It felt like a quarter mile of cable! So, cable management was critical; if we had a tangle of cables, there would be no way to troubleshoot and isolate a problem.
What sound and video equipment is used in the piece?
Joana and Khalil created 38 interviews which the List presented on 13 monitors, the video files are of different lengths and not synchronized, so there are (almost) endless playback combinations. The programs play from small Micca HD media players mounted behind each monitor, each monitor has 3 or 4 USB-powered portable speakers–one speaker is located close to each monitor for local audio and the rest gather in the center array.
What have you noticed, if anything, about how visitors are interacting with The Rumor of the World?
I think visitors are initially disoriented by the darkened gallery and the cacophony of voices. People also seem drawn to the blue and red power lights on the hanging speakers; I think leaving them visible was a deliberate decision on Joana and Khalil’s part.
Also, one fun fact on the installation: in most US museums, the standard picture height for installation is to center the work at 60 inches, which is considered an average eye level. For The Rumor of the World, I didn’t center the TVs at 60”, but rather made sure the eyes of the actors in the videos are roughly 60” from the floor.