Sleepwalkers
Dusk falls on a cold winter evening, and five characters awaken and dress and make their way out into nighttime New York City. In Doug Aitken's sleepwalkers, these characters provide a blueprint for the city-a living, breathing mechanism fueled by the desires and ambitions of its inhabitants, who, in turn, nourish and are nourished by the city's energy, breadth, and depth.
The Museum of Modern Art and Creative Time present Doug Aitken's sleepwalkers. This nighttime installation comprises eight large-scale moving images projected around the Museum and on its facades, enlivening the architecture with the nocturnal journeys of five city inhabitants-a bicycle messenger (played by Ryan Donowho), an electrician (Seu Jorge), a postal worker (Chan Marshall), a businessman (Donald Sutherland), and an office worker (Tilda Swinton)-as they awaken in the evening and make their way into the city. These characters provide a blueprint for the metropolis as a living, breathing organism fueled by the desires, energies, and ambitions of its inhabitants.
Sleepwalkers is a broken narrative, without beginning or end. The five characters entwine across the building's surfaces in combinations that change cyclically throughout the course of each evening. With this exhibition Aitken pioneers a site-specific cinema, expanded into the urban landscape and keyed to the pedestrian experience. Because the piece is spread around the Museum's exterior, viewers must circle the building to fully experience the work-in the process, becoming active participants in Aitken's project.
Although sleepwalkers is Aitken's first public artwork in the United States, the theme of give-and-take between individuals and their environment is one that he frequently explores. In 2001 he turned London's Serpentine Gallery, from the basement to the roof, into a complex, multipart video installation. Among his best-known works is electric earth, originally created for the 1999 Venice Biennale, in which a nocturnal cityscape comes to rhythmic life as a restless young man dances through it. As he was making sleepwalkers Aitken described the work as an effort to "capture the multiple facets of a living city as if seen through a cut diamond, revealing a kaleidoscope of simultaneous views." His characters explore the corporeal and psychological topography of New York, revealing the tempos of the urban landscape. Shot in a wide range of locations throughout the city, sleepwalkers explores the constant flow of life and energy that is New York.
Sleepwalkers by Doug Aitken
16 Jan till 12 Feb 2007
The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street New York
+ MOMA
The Museum of Modern Art and Creative Time present Doug Aitken's sleepwalkers. This nighttime installation comprises eight large-scale moving images projected around the Museum and on its facades, enlivening the architecture with the nocturnal journeys of five city inhabitants-a bicycle messenger (played by Ryan Donowho), an electrician (Seu Jorge), a postal worker (Chan Marshall), a businessman (Donald Sutherland), and an office worker (Tilda Swinton)-as they awaken in the evening and make their way into the city. These characters provide a blueprint for the metropolis as a living, breathing organism fueled by the desires, energies, and ambitions of its inhabitants.
Sleepwalkers is a broken narrative, without beginning or end. The five characters entwine across the building's surfaces in combinations that change cyclically throughout the course of each evening. With this exhibition Aitken pioneers a site-specific cinema, expanded into the urban landscape and keyed to the pedestrian experience. Because the piece is spread around the Museum's exterior, viewers must circle the building to fully experience the work-in the process, becoming active participants in Aitken's project.
Although sleepwalkers is Aitken's first public artwork in the United States, the theme of give-and-take between individuals and their environment is one that he frequently explores. In 2001 he turned London's Serpentine Gallery, from the basement to the roof, into a complex, multipart video installation. Among his best-known works is electric earth, originally created for the 1999 Venice Biennale, in which a nocturnal cityscape comes to rhythmic life as a restless young man dances through it. As he was making sleepwalkers Aitken described the work as an effort to "capture the multiple facets of a living city as if seen through a cut diamond, revealing a kaleidoscope of simultaneous views." His characters explore the corporeal and psychological topography of New York, revealing the tempos of the urban landscape. Shot in a wide range of locations throughout the city, sleepwalkers explores the constant flow of life and energy that is New York.
Sleepwalkers by Doug Aitken
16 Jan till 12 Feb 2007
The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street New York
+ MOMA
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