On several occasions I have had the works of Susan Hiller recommended to me to look at. On the surface, there isn’t a direct correlation between her works and my project, however the purposes of our works are in many ways quite similar – archive art.
My project is a form of archive – the illustrations and information that it collects will form the basis of an archive of the most endangered plants in the world – providing the public with an illustrated guide to the most endangered plants of the world and information about them. Susan Hiller’s works are also archival – sometimes taking archival objects (such as From the Freud Museum), but also being an archive in their own right (such as in The Last Silent Movie and Monument). Of particular interest to me, is the ways in which she exhibits these archives; the different layouts and compositions that she explores, including the different media.
Monument:
“Susan Hiller’s installation Monument incorporates forty-one photographs of memorial plaques the artist came across in Postman’s Park, near St Paul’s Cathedral, London. There is one photograph for each year of the artist’s life (at the time the work was made). Each plaque commemorates an ordinary man, woman or child who died while performing an act of heroism.”
Rattee, K. (2003) ‘Monument’, Susan Hiller, 1980-1. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hiller-monument-t06902 (Accessed: 15/11/2021).
Monument was the first of Hiller’s works that I looked at; the layout being of the plaques being the primary interest for me. The disruption of the expected in this composition is very intriguing – the size and shape of the photographs makes them ideal to be hung in the usual “white cube” style – in a single line across the room, at eye-height. However, Hiller has decided to subvert this – instead emulating the construction of the tiles which each commemorative plaque is made from. For me, this is a very interesting concept – using the physicality of the subject to influence the physical layout of the exhibited work – as not only does the break from normality create interest for the viewer and draw them over, but it also evokes the semantics of the subject (photographs of tiles, in a tile-like format), forcing the viewers to reflect on the original plaques, their significance (the fact that they are made from painted ceramic tiles rather than engraved metal, and their meaning and significance – highlighting the lives and bravery of local residents). Their size and layout also connotes a mausoleum, and therefore further ties the subject and composition together – creating a much more impressive and impactful viewing experience overall.
Image Source: Hiller, S. (1980-1) Monument. [Installation] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hiller-monument-t06902 (accessed: 15 November 2021)
From the Freud Museum:
“From the Freud Museum is an installation commissioned by Book Works and the Freud Museum in London. The first version of the installation was produced for the Freud Museum and exhibited there in 1994. Hiller continued to work on the piece and a later version was completed in 1996 and purchased by Tate in 1998. It is generally exhibited as a single vitrine in which fifty archive boxes are displayed on two shelves, with their lids open, revealing a broad range of small artefacts.”
Anderson, F. (2013) ‘From the Freud Museum’, Susan Hiller, 1991-6. Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hiller-from-the-freud-museum-t07438 (Accessed: 15/11/2021).
From the Freud Museum is in many ways quite similar to Monument, in the fact that it is displaying archival materials. However, these materials came from the Freud Museum itself and are therefore extremely relevant. Initially the work was displayed in the museum itself, so the subject and location were completely intertwined – leaving no doubt to the viewer the relevance of the work. The objects are all displayed in archive boxes – enforcing the idea of the installation being an archive – and numbered and labelled as such. This is something that I have thought about for the display of my own work – adding elements (such as embossing stamps, archival labels, etc.) of the archive system to them after drawing – to enforce the idea of their being a part of a set and part of an archive of works – as well as referencing both Hiller and the archival practices of herbariums and libraries such as Kew and RBGE.
Source: Hiller, S. (1991-6) From the Freud Museum. [Installation] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hiller-from-the-freud-museum-t07438 (accessed: 15 November 2021)
The Last Silent Movie:
“The Last Silent Movie, 2007/2008, 22 minute audio-visual work, produced as single screen BluRay dvd, continuous soundtrack of extinct and endangered languages subtitled on black screens; accompanied by 24 etchings completed the following year.”
The Last Silent Movie (N.D) Available at: http://www.susanhiller.org/installations/last_silent_movie.html
The actual subject matter of The Last Silent Movie is most close to my own work this time – a black screen film with subtitles, recording the most endangered languages in the world. These languages are on the edge of extinction, so the work serves as a record of them – exploring their diversities, tones, levels, noises – everything that makes them wonderful and unique. It also serves as an educational tool – almost like a time capsule – for future generations to understand what was lost in the fast paced progress of the world, due to the influences of Western colonialism. My project also feels the burden of preserving something which is almost lost for future generations – aiming to inspire them into preventing the complete loss and collapse of the wonderful biodiversity (and in Hiller’s case, human diversity) that today’s society and the legacy of Western colonialism are causing. The fact that the film (which you can see a clip of here: http://www.susanhiller.org/installations/last_silent_movie_more.html) is a solid black background with white subtitles really highlights the the languages themselves – rather than the people speaking them, and forces the viewer to appreciate the languages without bias or preconception – removing the very elements which have caused the endangerment of them in the first place, and allowing them to be celebrated for their wonderful, multifarious forms and sounds. Additionally, you see nothing of the artist here (or in Monument or From the Freud Museum) – which allows the audience’s focus to be purely on the subjects themselves – throwing them into the spotlight and removing any distractions.
This is something that I wish to achieve in my own work as well – taking the focus away from my illustrations (per-se) and instead focussing it on the plants themselves. The botanical labels are one way in which I am trying to do this, but these do not suggest the connection that I am making with botanical gardens and live plants for everyone – especially not for people who haven’t seen the labels in gardens much before. I therefore need to investigate other methods of focussing the audience’s attention on the plants themselves, perhaps through my placement of the images when I display them, or through other methods. Exhibition composition however, is something which I will be thinking very carefully over the next few days and weeks – especially in the run up to the group Crits that we will be having with the Level 5s, as I want them to understand that the living plant is the main focus – not my illustrations.
Source: Hiller, S. (2007-8) The Last Silent Movie. [Audio-Visual] Available at: http://www.susanhiller.org/installations/last_silent_movie.html (accessed: 15 November 2021)
