A Sound Enclosed Land Area

Playing just outside and inside the entrance to Storm King’s Visitor Center is a 1969 recording of Oppenheim’s footsteps as he was walking in Milan. Oppenheim followed a map—now hanging in Gallery 1 of the Museum Building with the audiotape—and the resulting recording played inside Galleria Lambert, Milan, shortly after it was made. Subverting the idea that art be a discrete object, Oppenheim considered sound alone to be sufficient for an artwork. In 1971 the artist spoke of his &dsquo;sense of trying to get further away from any traditional usage of material. I felt a great incongruity between my position and almost everything that was a product of the art system.”

1969. Recording of clear, evenly spaced footprints walking a selected area in Milan, Italy, for a specific time following a map.

2-track stereo reel-to-reel recording, outdoor and indoor speakers