O-Town House is excited to present the exhibition RUMORS from Kim Gordon. Gordon’s film Picture Window, directed together with Manuela Dalle, was inspired by Chantal Akerman’s film “Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles”. This reverent nod to what some refer to as “the greatest film of all time” stars Gordon herself, going about her day: making the bed, cleaning the bathtub, making a salad, eating a sandwich with her daughter, and vacuuming the living room. Picture Window is meditative and completely without dialogue. Not much happens except for the fact that a deep red electric guitar is strapped around her shoulders and plugged into an amp somewhere out of frame. These menial activities are suddenly filled with discordant drama over the hiss of the amp as the guitar crashes into the bathtub, or the kitchen counter. Picture Window emotes humor and tragedy at once - the sounds emanating from the amp off screen aggregate into a beautiful and dissonant soundtrack, quite literally composed through contact with the mundane routine of daily life. The resulting score seems to embody the deafening sound of silence yet transposes quiet anxiety into something audibly soothing.
Design Office began in 1980 as a way to practice art through site-specific, reflective interventions into the lives of its clients. Objects and physical changes are introduced within a given interior, based on the client’s personality, needs, and desires. Upstairs, a new, site specific Design Office installation, RUMORS, takes on O-Town House as a client and addresses the unique function of the gallery as a site for both public and private exchange. This Design Office “service” was decided upon during a video interview at the gallery. The proposal was to install mirrors on two walls to reflect and enhance two of the gallery’s best assets: the visitors ascending the stairs and the balcony outside. The is minimal gesture both expands and features the social spaces of the gallery and the people who inhabit them.
Kim Gordon has always embraced experimentation and is dedicated to dismantling and subverting established conventions. This stems from an enduring, passionate curiosity and not the dismissive irreverence one might expect. Her practice is deeply invested in collaboration and a genuine appreciation of artists similarly committed to probing new ideas through art.
