Easy to Remember, one of the Whitney Biennial 2002’s most memorable pieces, got its title from a Rodgers and Hart song. What does 31 refer to?
It’s 31 discrete sequences shown on 31 monitors arranged like a calendar month. Each monitor represents a day in the life of a fictional female character in New York. You can’t watch the days in their entirety – your attention darts over these 31 monitors. It creates the sense of trying to grasp time.
Do you now have a preference for video over photography?
I go back and forth. Photography is more of a challenge because it’s very familiar to me. I play more with film, in terms of shooting things differently, editing sequences, and working with actors and crew members. When I get back to photography, it’s just me and it. Film is collaborative, and that is what’s fun about it.
Did September 11 affect your work in any obvious way?
All of my other film projects have been done outside of New York, and I think that after 9/11, I subconsciously created a project that was based in New York so that I would be running around the city.
Cameos and Appearances
Whitney Museum of American Art
October 11 through January 26.