HERE AND NOW was first created in 2010 for a specific audience, known in advance by the artist.
A few months before the event, without any explanation of the purpose of the exercise, the artist recorded each member of the future audience individually stating their own date of birth, followed by the words 'to present'.
On the day, the artist gathered the audience and led them to a small, pitch-black room, closing the door behind them. After some minutes in complete darkness and silence, the audio began, emanating from several points within the room.
As the recorded voices stated their individual life-spans in turn, the audience heard their own voice, and the voices of others state the words one-by-one. The sound gradually overlapped, increased in volume and built to a discomforting crescendo, before easing off again. To complicate the dynamic, and destabalize the familiar artist/audience boundary, there were a couple of 'plants' within the audience group, stating their own own life-span live in the room at pre-arranged intervals.
After 10 minutes the work ended, and the door was opened.
AUDIO (NB. Sound begins after the first minute)
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