A window in New York

A tribute to Mark Rothko and John Cage.

A reverie stemming from a ten-day trip to New York in the fall of 96, the real window is located in the Paramount Hotel on Broadway. The installation window wanders between sounds and photos recorded during the trip and the memory of two great New York artists, the painter Mark Bothko and the composer John Cage. The principle of the installation is to create a dynamic perception oÍ New York City The window is the metaphor: an opening onto the city which Íilters variations of light and sound, focussing eyes and ears. The authors shall outline the successive forms of the project, and the change-related issues, which led them from one version to the next. Issues driving these changes include the audience’s perception oÍ real time alterations in the installation, the coherence of the composition in response to accidental intervention, and finally the imaginary view of the city as perceived through an abstract or concrete construction. In this sense, the issues refer back to John Cage, who strove gradually to give indeterminism and interpretation a place in his work, and to Marc Rothko, who plays with perception of light in abstraction.