1 00:00:07,645 --> 00:00:12,249 [Ann Hamilton: "the event of a thread"] 2 00:00:15,519 --> 00:00:18,088 [Sound of static and a woman's voice coming from a radio speaker] 3 00:00:23,825 --> 00:00:27,131 [Sound of static and a man's voice coming from a radio speaker] 4 00:00:54,157 --> 00:00:57,994 My first hand is a sewing hand--is a weaving hand-- 5 00:00:58,241 --> 00:01:01,965 is that connection between text and textiles. 6 00:01:02,465 --> 00:01:06,001 The title of the work is "the event of a thread" 7 00:01:06,574 --> 00:01:10,974 and that comes from Anni Albers, whose description of weaving 8 00:01:10,974 --> 00:01:14,445 is a horizontal and vertical crossing of a thread, 9 00:01:14,445 --> 00:01:18,348 which is touch and contact at intersection. 10 00:01:19,417 --> 00:01:22,385 The cloth is raising and lowering with the swings. 11 00:01:22,385 --> 00:01:27,407 Everyone's presence registers in some way in the materials of it. 12 00:01:27,407 --> 00:01:30,827 And that, in turn, makes its weaving. 13 00:01:46,544 --> 00:01:50,246 [sound of audience echoing throughout the hall] 14 00:01:51,574 --> 00:01:54,518 [Sound of static and a woman's voice coming from a radio speaker] 15 00:01:54,518 --> 00:01:59,707 [MAN] "Discordant pieces of science." 16 00:02:01,740 --> 00:02:04,161 [MAN] "On man's injustice" 17 00:02:04,161 --> 00:02:07,597 [MAN, THROUGH RADIO SPEAKER] "is another's injustice." 18 00:02:07,964 --> 00:02:10,433 [HAMILTON] At the beginning, we wondered if people would even swing. 19 00:02:10,433 --> 00:02:13,936 We're like, "I hope they don't just hang there." 20 00:02:13,990 --> 00:02:17,340 There's something that happens when you swing. 21 00:02:17,340 --> 00:02:24,314 I'm sure there's a neurological explanation for the sense of pleasure that you feel, 22 00:02:24,448 --> 00:02:27,750 and I think people are giving over to that. 23 00:02:29,085 --> 00:02:33,022 There was a family in here yesterday that was here for three hours. 24 00:02:33,124 --> 00:02:37,161 So, it's sort of become like a park. 25 00:02:43,967 --> 00:02:47,270 I think one of the things that's here is it's very intimate, 26 00:02:47,270 --> 00:02:49,991 and yet, it's kind of very large and anonymous-- 27 00:02:49,991 --> 00:02:56,241 so this quality of solitude and being in a congregation or group of people. 28 00:02:56,241 --> 00:02:59,616 I think the feeling of that is actually very comforting, 29 00:02:59,616 --> 00:03:02,957 and something that we need. 30 00:03:08,625 --> 00:03:10,861 In the middle, under the cloth, 31 00:03:10,861 --> 00:03:13,496 I knew it would be a really wonderful place to stand-- 32 00:03:13,496 --> 00:03:19,374 to have the turbulence and the liquidity of the cloth fall around you. 33 00:03:19,569 --> 00:03:23,775 But, I was totally unprepared for the fact that people would lay down on the floor 34 00:03:23,775 --> 00:03:27,777 and stay horizontal for a long long time. 35 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,991 I decided early on that I was going to stay for the duration of the show, 36 00:03:41,991 --> 00:03:44,074 and every day is a little bit different, 37 00:03:44,074 --> 00:03:47,164 and every day there's some other kind of interaction 38 00:03:47,164 --> 00:03:51,134 that it's almost...it holds the piece back up to me. 39 00:04:00,277 --> 00:04:06,617 There was a girl who said she felt really really wild and safe at the same time. 40 00:04:06,617 --> 00:04:11,907 When I heard that...you know, it's like, "Yes! That is great." 41 00:04:11,907 --> 00:04:14,925 There's so many of those kinds of things, 42 00:04:14,925 --> 00:04:19,128 so you're trying to give or make the opportunity for that kind of experience-- 43 00:04:19,128 --> 00:04:21,407 but not determine what that is-- 44 00:04:21,407 --> 00:04:24,907 that in turn, there's so much that's coming back 45 00:04:24,907 --> 00:04:27,604 from what people are giving into the work. 46 00:04:27,604 --> 00:04:33,541 Being here and being present to feel that is tremendously satisfying. 47 00:04:41,407 --> 00:04:44,654 [CHILDREN: "Whoa!"]