The Rest Is Silence: The Tapes Hyang Cho
2011, 12 ft; dimensions variable , 189 cassette tapes with cases, 90 minutes each, tape recorder, speaker

This show had a number of peices, but this one was the most powerful for me. She recorded herself reading Spinoza's ethics word by word, on a set of 90 minute tapes. As one tape ended, she would type what reminded her of the work Sometimes its nothing, sometimes its these really problematic words about sex and death--the tapes would be played in sequence--each word would be underlined, and the pencil would be rubbed off on a blank notebook afterwards.

it's an academic work, but Spinoza, with his efforts at and eventually failing to ride the intellectual line between his instincts and his traditon, and the non-western nature of Hyang Cho's other work, have an isolation and a lonliness, a profound fear at wanting to communicate, and being unable to communicate.

that the speaker is grey, and the tapes are black and white, and the edition of spinoza she chose was black, and the only colour was the gold along the spine--made it a visually stark work as well.

(note about analog vs digital)