M HKA Ensembles

Mixed Media, 22 x 22 x 3,5 cm, audio 2 x 30 min.

Collection: © The Estate Of Dorothy Iannone, courtesy Air de Paris, Romainville and Peres Projects, Berlin.

"I moved from France to Berlin in 1976, and one of my first new friends was Mary Harding. We made this little video the night before the opening of an exhibition of my boxes and prints at Studio Galerie Mike Steiner in 1977 in Berlin. Oswald Wiener and Michel Würthle, who had a gallery just around the corner from Mike Steiner, were opening the same evening with an exhibition of any books and paintings. I needed the video for Steiner, since I had promised I would make one.
The video is called Whisper, because I had laryngitis and had to whisper to avoid losing my voice entirely. Mary assumed a position on the bed and I sat on the edge, and we simply talked to each other. In a way, the video became a forerunner to our book Speaking To Each Other from 1977, which was accompanied by audio cassettes and transcripts of our talks (made separately this time) to each other."

Dorothy Iannone, from Oliver Koerner von Gustorf, Sweetness is Seductive, in Follow Me, exhibition catalogue, September 2008, Berlin 

► CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE AUDIO