A Universal Syntax

2017
Installation for two 35mm slide projectors and micro-controller

View Video Version of the Installation

A Universal Syntax is the story of a fictitious interview with a researcher who has become fascinated by an old monastery (based on one Graydon visited in Austria) and the musical language created by the monks there—all of which has “disappeared … as if it had never been.” Two slide projectors show photos of the monastery perched atop a hill, as well as a transcription of the interview and the score of the monks’ song. Eventually, the interviewee shares a recording of the singing with the interviewer. The only sound we hear is the clacking of the projectors. But we see the mysterious score—rendered in a notation or “a universal syntax” resembling stacks of dashed lines—that is implied to be the magic behind the monastery’s disappearance.

- Cambridge Arts


Curated by Dina Deitsch for the exhibition at Gallery 344, Cambridge, Massachusetts