Response 8: Exchange

My first thought as Exchange began was that this was just like Boomerang. Robert Morris’ words were echoing just like Nancy’s, and similarly, the effect is inhibiting and disorienting. It was extremely difficult to understand exactly what was being said. When Morris, speaking as the narrator, finally speaks in a clear manner, it’s like a veil being lifted. The video as a whole was a strange multilevel documentary. The main voice, Morris’s, speaks in a very measured manner, though it is obvious that he is reading from a previously devised script, especially when he stops and says, “I can’t read this.” But though the script is read in a very purposeful manner, it does not seem to make any sense. Throughout the entire video, Morris is speaking in a loose structure that jumps all over the place. And while Morris is speaking, Lynda Benglis is also speaking. But while Morris assumes the role of an omniscient narrator speaking of the artists in third person, Benglis speaks in a very personal manner. It seems like she’s right in front of the viewer, a tour guide leading the viewer through the videos. But it is very difficult to hear Benglis’s words because it is completely overshadowed by Morris’s overpowering narrative.

As for the images of the video, I was reminded of Benglis’s other video, Now. Just like in Now, Exchange was created by splicing videos and videotaping over another video, resulting in overlapping images, sounds, and ideas. A similar distortion of time and space that was present in Now was apparent in Exchange. It becomes quite difficult for the viewer to discern which video and audio track was created first and for what reason. And this disorientation is further exacerbated by the Morris’s chaotic dialogue. Although it does have some semblance of order, the narrative does not match with the images on the video. The viewer is forced to the difficult task of processing several streams of dialogue while trying to understand the spliced images and videos that don’t flow together.