A Response to a Set of Conditions, 2004, Super-8 film diptych transferred to DVD, color, silent, total running time 2 minutes and 49 seconds (top: 9 film stills from left half of diptych, c-print mounted to Plexiglas and Sintra, h 9 1/2” x w 14”; middle: 25 film stills from right half of diptych; bottom: 2 film stills from right half of diptych)
A Response to a Set of Conditions is a silent film diptych comprised of Super-8 films shot in a morgue. The patterns of behavior depicted in the film intuitively utilize the morgue as a studio for developing awareness of motor skills (left film) and the real-time linguistic game presented in the right half of the diptych demonstrates cognition through the process of discerning new word combinations from labels on two pathology sample containers.
The following routines presented in the left film each run for the length of the camera’s manual wind: circumnavigate the morgue with a pencil balanced on the end of a ruler; hold raised, extended legs in front of the Wastemaster sink disposal grinder; grasp a bucket of pathology samples and maintain arm in horizontal position; negotiate figure eights around floor drains with a luggage cart loaded with an empty cardboard box; twirl a bone chisel with one hand; spin to the point of dizziness on a swivel chair; turn a radio dial rapidly back and forth from one end of the spectrum to the other; keep a roll of surgical tape moving constantly; walk figure eights around floor drains with fingers; repeatedly unbutton and button top two buttons of shirt.
The following word combinations are presented in the right film: no ear; no hear; he no hear; no heart; no art; he no art; heart art; normal art; normal ear, normal ear art; no ear muse; use no muse; he use a heart muse; mal muse; normal hearts museum.
