Sperone Westwater is pleased to announce an exhibition of Bruce Nauman’s video installation Mapping the Studio II with color shift, flip, flop & flip/flop (Fat Chance John Cage), 2001, which consists of 7 video projections on the gallery walls.  Like Mapping the Studio I, currently on view at DIA Center for the Arts, the footage is from the original material shot by Nauman’s infrared video camera at 7 different studio positions, filmed over a period of several months in 2000.  What this footage captures are the remnants of past works, works in progress and general studio detritus, the stillness of which is irregularly interrupted by mice, insects and the artist’s cat.  This activity combined with the eerie noises of trains, horses and coyotes, wind and rain create a heightened awareness of space, sound and time.  Each DVD is 5 hours and 45 minutes, running continuously at each location.

Mapping the Studio II introduces more formal invention (color shift and image manipulation) into the already unsettling but meditative experience of Mapping the Studio I.  Colors change gradually from red to green to blue and back to red within a 28-minute period, resulting in a slow evolution of the palette. The technical manipulation consists of flipping the image left to right or right to left and/or flopping or flip-flopping the images upside-down.  These “events” occur approximately every 15 minutes.

Also on view will be an “All Action Edit” of Mapping the Studio II.  In Mapping the Studio II with color shift, flip, flop, & flip/flop (Fat Chance John Cage) All Action Edit, 2001; the artist has edited the footage at each of the seven locations to particular events, visual activity as well as sound.  Examples of such events are “mouse right of door, moth” and “cat sound (long sequence)”.  The running time varies at each location from 29 minutes and 20 seconds to 1 hour, 22 minutes and 30 seconds.

There will be a smaller work entitled OFFICE EDIT II with color shift, flip, flop, & flip/flop (Fat Chance John Cage) Mapping the Studio, 2001 projecting one video image and running 59 minutes.