Exhibition: “whether there was a bell or whether I knocked”

Stephen Vitiello's "whether there was a bell or whether I knocked", 2018, is informed in part by The Institute of Contemporary Art at VCU's building design, which is set to open April 21, 2018.  Architect Steven Holl’s vision for the ICA drew on themes of chance and choice in Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges’ short story, "The Garden of Forking Paths," both of which in turn inspired Vitiello. In his new piece, Vitiello builds a spatial and auditory experience through intertwining loops of sound. He recorded 18 voices ranging from international colleagues to Richmond youth, each reading from different translations of Borges’ story (in English and German, along with one in the original Spanish). The voices move through 18 speakers placed within one gallery, tuned to the building’s unique space and acoustics. A chance-based algorithm moves the voices through the speakers, so the placement, volume, relative legibility, and layering of voices during each “reading” of the story will be unique.

Galleries open 10 am to 6 pm