Throughout the full duration of the video, the protocol is the same. About fifteen photos scroll past the camera. Each is meticulously described aloud by John Baldessari. Hearing only the description, Ed Henderson must propose musical and audio atmospheres. Only Baldessari’s hands – filmed in a fixed sequence shot – move on the screen as he handles the images and focuses the camera. From the rodeo action scene, to the strange close up of a boa on concrete in front of a stationary car, or a couple waking up in a bedroom with the decor of a fashion magazine, the choice of images is very varied, allowing no form of connection between them. While the musician Ed Henderson (who has already collaborated with the artist) proposes a maximum of three sounds per photo, we hear the conversation between them and Baldessari’s point of view on Ed’s choice. With each proposition, the artist implies that there is a logic to the relationship that he is establishing between sound and image. Clearly however, it is completely random – the photos were randomly chosen in National Geographic magazines, and the musician proposes atmospheres based on a brief description. The seriousness of the confrontation becomes comical. The construction of potential scenarios between sound and images becomes an intensification of random elements, questioning the sound/image relationship. Once again, Baldessari points up the subjectivity of the interpretations of an image and the resulting manipulation of the spectator.

Patricia Maincent

Translated by Anna Knight