Gary Hill’s Around & About (1980) deals with how people relate to one another, using the breakdown of one of Hill’s past personal relationships as its point of departure. In the piece, Hill speaks to an imagined counterpart (or perhaps the viewer). Flashes of random manipulated still images—of his office/studio space—“illustrate” his speech as they are shown at the pace of his speaking. That is, they change as each syllable is spoken. The varying sequence and manipulations of the imagery sustains the viewer as Hill talks “around and about” an unknown, unresolved problem with his partner.
Around & About screens from 1 August through 31 August on a media station in the ART building located on the corner of East 23rd Street and San Jacinto Boulevard.