Response 8:

Robert Morris and Lynda Bengils, “Exchange”, reminds me of a documentary/commentary type of video in which Robert Morris is commenting on Lynda’s and his art. It is difficult to understand where he draws his conclusions from. In the beginning of the video there is an empty tv screen and you hear a man speaking about art as if he is looking at it as he is describing it and assuming the viewer of the video can see what he sees. Unfortunately, the viewer cannot see what he sees and it is therefore quite confusing. In addition to the lack of visual element his voice is echoed and is thus it is hard to follow his thoughts. After a minute or two of the blank tv screen an image is displayed and the echo seems to lessen or it is just easier to follow his thoughts because of the visual impact. As the video continues a layered effect is achieved in which the viewer sees Lynda commenting on a video within the tv screen and then Robert is commenting onto of that image. Then at certain points during the video you actually see Robert within the video and the commentator’s voice fades to his voice on the tv screen. Then it zooms back out of the screen and the commentating voice of someone outside the frame continues. Also as Robert speaks you can hear Lynda commenting in the background whether it is in the video present time or past, it is hard to tell. This is really strange to me as it makes it difficult to understand the purpose and context (timeline) at which this video and the images take place.