Viewing1.   

a wireless headphone piece for the World Financial Plaza,

New York City, July .           Kaffe Matthews.(2007)

[media: 10 x pairs wireless headphones, laptop, Viewing 1 composition stereo, duration 18’18”]

Viewing 1    is a piece made by scanning.

Scanning the World Financial Plaza over a week in July by watching and recording the up and down of the buildings, the sky that moves above them, and the people that live amongst them day by day.

Using a new system I am developing measuring this information in colour and size and movement and stasis, I have mapped a score that selects sounds I have processed and grabbed from field recordings here, an orchestra in rehearsal in Scotland and too early ice melt on the St.Lawrence River, Quebec.

Viewing 1 is about listening, slowing down and orientation.

Take a stroll around or stop and sit as you listen to it.

SOME VISITORS COMMENTS.

Wednesday 15th August:

" is this a headphone taste-test ? "               In a thick eastern european accent,

" you get the feeling of life just passing you by "      old lady

“ hey, you can hear nature in headphones ! “    4 security guards  

Thursday 16th August.

" if i had some vodka, I’d sit and listen" – but he left

" i like that this is like being in a bubble, but you hear sounds you would expect around you and also the real ones are creeping in...  i think that listening to sounds like this could make New York less public and more tolerable " -  female

" a little too static for me but the wireless bit, so that you can walk about,  really works “   nearby office workers

Friday 17th August.

" so I put this on and it makes me go CRAZY  ! OK? psychological warfare, you know we have that now.. did you ever read the book, i think it was the guy who died this year who wrote it, it is like where everyone is equal..  so in the book the beautiful people wear masks so the ugly people don't feel bad, the strong people have to wear a bag of rocks so the weaker people don't feel bad, and the smart people, well when they start to form a complex idea there is a loud NOISE in their ear so they can't think straight..  well, keep that in mind !! kurt vonnegut i think " [sic i think it was a ray bradbury book] - man from world financial center with the strangest accent i have EVER heard (maybe a collage of EVERY european accent possible)

Saturday 18th August.:

couple came who had 4 huge bags of blueberries - left as collateral for headphones

man came specifically for the piece said it was very nice.

mother and son listened to almost entire piece, child kept saying " This is creepy "  and giggled a lot.

(NOTES collected by  Zjelko McMullen)