Barbara Seiler

and what and how and where and if and, 2015, is the central work presented in Monologue for an Interior, a duo-exhibition by Annaïk Lou Pitteloud (*1980, Lausanne, CH) and Steve Van den Bosch (*1975, Antwerpen, BE).
This work is an ephemeral rhythmic sound, produced by the movements of the gallerist wearing a pair of trousers that was designed and created in collaboration with Andrea Kränzlin (*1975, Baden, CH), fashion and costume designer.
The typical hiss that is unintentionally produced by the friction of two trouser legs touching is a sound that is usually filtered out or ignored. It is a by-product that is part of an underlying gray zone that comprises all those sounds we know are there but that we do not consider to be communication. Nevertheless, there can sometimes be a surprisingly striking resemblance to whispered language, which invites us to speculate on possible meanings that are ungraspable, constantly shifting and being erased, since they remain without context or reference, except for in the subconscious.
It is this phenomenon that the artists focused on as the central concept for the exhibition.
For the work, the gallerist is asked to research the register of possible sounds and rhythms of the garment by attentively moving through the exhibition space whenever there is a visitor, in a continuous rehearsal. By walking, the sound activates the silence of the exhibition space by softly cutting through it; regularly inserting brief moments of light irregular static, letting the silence regenerate and close itself again between those moments of movement and after one stops walking altogether.
The sound, generally referred to as a “hissing”, bears resemblance to the utterance globally used to plea for silence: sssshhh. Yet the title, and what and how and where and if and, functions as a phonetic mould for any sentence imagined by both the gallerist and the visitor in an intimate loop of associations.
The garment is the instrument to produce the work with. The slightly amplified and diversified hiss was gradually developed by constantly altering the original form of a tailor-made pair of elegant and businesslike trousers. The visibility of the complex construction between the two legs of the trousers was reduced by using black fabric, the indispensible, versatile, and stereotypical staple in the wardrobes of those operating in the art system and in its backstage.
During Monologue for an Interior, the gallerist will literally be the carrier, the motor of the work, using the exhibition space as an amplifier for whispered considerations.