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11/5/2005

Pandemonium

Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, Philadelphia

Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller

Tip tap tip tap. Is that the sound of dripping or is it someone in a cell tapping a code on the wall? Now there are many more tapping sounds. Far and near. Loud and soft. Now someone is banging on a pipe, now a cupboard. Now the hall is filled with a cacophony of beats, working their way back and forth, a PANDEMONIUM of percussion.

Using the existing elements in the prison cells Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller have made the entire Cellblock Seven into a giant musical instrument, producing a percussive site work. This instrument, controlled by a computer and midi system, is made up of one hundred and twenty separate beaters hitting disparate objects such as toilet bowls, light fixtures and bedside tables found within the prison cells. The composition begins subtly as if two prisoners are trying to communicate and then moves through an abstract soundscape and lively dance beats until it reaches a riot-like crescendo.

Cardiff and Miller were born in Canada, and currently live and work in Berlin. Their signature audio and video walks have been presented in many cities, including New York, London, Rome, Pittsburgh, Berlin, Muenster and San Francisco. In 2001 they won a Premio Prize for their installation, The Paradise Institute at the Venice Biennale.

The massive Eastern State Penitentiary was once the most famous and expensive prison in the world. Its gothic, castle-like towers stood as a grim warning to lawbreakers in the young United States. This was the world’s first true “penitentiary,” a prison intended to inspire profound regret – or penitence—in the hearts of criminals. The influential design featured cellblocks extending like the spokes of a wheel; each inmate lived in solitary confinement in a vaulted sky-lit cell. The prison itself had running water and central heat before the White House, and once held many of America’s most notorious criminals, including bank robber “Slick Willie” Sutton and Al Capone.

Eastern State closed in 1971. The prison stands today in ruin, a haunting world of crumbling cellblocks and a place of surprising beauty. Today the prison is among the most popular visitor attractions in Philadelphia, hosting exhibits on both prison history and artist installations. Eight other artist installations will be on view during the 2005 season.

Cardiff and Miller will present Pandemonium in Cell Block Seven, a massive, cathedral-like, two-story wing completed in 1836. It has never been open to the public, and has been stabilized especially for this exhibition. The installation will open to the public on May 12, 2005 and will remain on view through November.

Pandemonium is the second installation at Eastern State organized by Philadelphia-based independent curator Julie Courtney. She co-curated Prison Sentences: The Prison as Site/The Prison as Subject, fourteen site-specific installations by twenty artists in 1995.

Pandemonium has been funded by the Philadelphia Exhibitions Initiative, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, administered by the University of the Arts, Philadelphia; The Pew Fellowships in the Arts; The National Endowment for the Arts; and the LEF Foundation.

Curated by Julie Courtney

Opening Thursday, May 12, 5-7 pm

Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site
2124 Fairmount Avenue - Philadelphia
Hours: Wednesday – Sunday 10 – 5 or by appointment

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