Jack Goldstein The Six Minute Drown, 1977
Black vinyl - 45 rpm 7-inch record
Edition size unknown
Published by the artist
Courtesy michèle didier
David Salle wrote in 1978 (in an essay published on the occasion of an exhibition at Hallwalls in Buffalo): "Goldstein needs to make a fake recording of a drowning man to avoid becoming a real one". The observation took on a darker meaning after Goldstein's suicide in 2003.
The record plays on notions of cinema. In the absence of any visual support, the panting and pounding of the man, combined with the turbulent sounds of the water, lead the viewer/listener to evoke their own image, and as few have witnessed an actual drowning, most will draw inspiration from cinematic memories.
As the piece progresses (the six minutes of the title are spread over the two sides of the 45), the artifice of cinema is highlighted. The listener begins to hear the man's cries as if overplayed, and the sounds of water are probably those of a hand splashing in a bathtub, either the artist's or that of a professional booth.
71.65 x 95.67 in ( 182,9 x 243,80 cm )
24.41 x 16.93 in ( 62,5 x 43,5 cm )
19.69 x 18.5 in ( 50 x 47,8 cm )
