Listening To Donald Judd

Recorded on location in Marfa, Texas. Published in 2007. This piece is a work in progress evolving from the numerous recordings Vitiello made of the sculptures of American artist Donald Judd in Marfa, Texas. High-precision microphones are placed directly on the surface of Judd's "specific objects." They capture a subtle combination of sounds resonating through the artwork and ambient sounds. Indubitably, I see this work as a tribute (and what better form for a tribute than a new work of art) to one of the greatest American artists of the 20th century. These recordings were created during an impromptu residency sponsored by the Marfa Theater and the Chinati Foundation. The results were a performance (with and without Tetsu Inoue) and two fairly large sound installations. I was there to somehow record the elusive Marfa Lights that appear almost nightly in the sky. They were easy to see but impossible to record with my small photocell and borrowed telescope. Sounds were captured in and around the Donald Judd installations at Chinati, in a glider, in fields of grasshoppers and along some unknown street. Marfa is a very quiet town. The most significant sound event is when the train comes through each day which can happen at any time of day or night. 3 years after my visit, most of what I experienced in Marfa has probably been modified by memory. The sound of the train is the only recognizable source sound that has been left fairly unhurt by time-stretching and other forms of electronic and mental processing. Stephen Vitiello FROM THE WORLD TRADE CENTER... I have found that I approach an installation by looking to create a soundtrack for that space. In the case of the World Trade Center Residency, I found that the sounds already existed but were inaccessible - the sound of thunder, wind, airplanes, helicopters, the sway of the building had all been expertly shut out by thick windows that would not open. It became my task to bring those sounds back into the room and in a sense, to bring it to life. I am interested in the physicality of sound and its' potential to define the shape, feel and colour of a room. I am also interested in exploring how people receive sound and to what extent I may create a work, with no visual component, and offer an environment in which a gallery or museum viewer will be enticed into listening with the attention that they would give to a visual or audio-visual work. ... TO MARFA, TEXAS I was there to somehow record the elusive Marfa Lights that appear almost nightly in the sky. They were easy to see but impossible to record with my small photocell and borrowed telescope. Sounds were captured in and around the Donald Judd installations at Chinati, in a glider, in fields of grasshoppers and along some unknown street. Marfa is a very quiet town. Stephen Vitiello