response 8: Morris and Benglis

After watching the first few minutes of the video, I already was so confused. His echoes made it so hard for me to concentrate on what he was saying exactly. I was pretty annoyed actually, not just with that first part of the video but with the rest of it as well. I would just basically listen to the dominant voice the whole time but because of the other voices I could hear in the background, I did not want to listen to the narrator anymore. Except I could not even decipher what the voices were saying. It was like the whole point of Benglis' video, Mumbling. Morris wanted the video to have a dialogue between them but I really couldn't hear it because it was so confusing. I basically did not like the video at all. The main voice was narrating in such a monotone voice that it frustrated me, especially when there was one part where he was quoting someone who's tone seemed to me to be ecstatic but he just kept his boring tone. I think it was ironic that when he said "just his voice like a drill in the head," I felt the same way about his voice. The only interesting part I found about the video was at the end before the static appeared, the man who was looking at a closed-circuit video of himself in real time said "crash" and every time he said it he would jolt. It was refreshing to see that and not listen to the narrator.

I think that this piece goes well with the reading on appropriation. But this video isn't appropriating the artwork of an artist who has died nor is it appropriating like Elaine Sturtevant did with little or no alteration. Benglis had agreed to exchange videos with Morris in hopes of creating a strong collaborative piece.