GARY HILL

VIEWER   

The multiple-channel video Viewer (1996) projects several life-size color images of seventeen workers wearing everyday clothing, representing different social backgrounds. These soundless projections, recorded one at a time and later presented as a group, are synchronized so they appear to stand side by side, lined as a team. The projected men remain almost motionless, their movement is limited to involuntary gestures such as slight hand movements or almost imperceptible changes in facial expression. There is no interaction between them, which creates an intimate space and a direct relationship between the Viewer and the projection. Each man is alone and looks at the Viewer, who is also being observed. The spectator is a reflection, in which observing occurs in both directions; those watching and those being watched.