68 Footsteps (x8)

68 Footsteps is an installation consisting of eight mono location recordings broadcast simultaneously from separate speakers. (This documentation presents all recordings combined to stereo). In the creation of each recording, an acoustic guitar has been placed in a different environment with an ebow device on top of it, causing it to resonate automatically. The choreographed movement of the recordist defines the arc of the piece, transforming the installation space upon playing the recordings back simultaneously: Each recording is begun 68 footsteps away from the guitar, which is the average distance from which the guitar’s resonation is no longer audible. The recordist slowly approaches the guitar with a microphone at 8 seconds per step, then returns to the same distance away at 4 seconds per step. The combined sound of the recordist arriving at the guitar creates a massive chord that ultimately relates and unifies the separate recordings, constructing a new space within the playback space for a period of time within the duration of the work.