Spirit Shift

(2019)

With Marla Hlady

Part of the works produced during the Glenfiddich Residency.

Works from the residencey include: Sampler, Spirit Shift, Swan Song, and You And I Are Water Earth Fire Air Of Life And Death.

During our Summer 2019 residency at the Glenfiddich Distillery, we were introduced to the various stages involved in making whisky.

We were particularly interested in the Spirit Supply Building where casks are filled with spirit on one end and are emptied of whisky at the other end.

In between the two ends of the process are years, sometimes decades, of the spirit maturing in the casks.

On Monday June 10, 2019 we spent an entire shift on the floor of Spirit Supply shadowing the workers.

We produced a sonic score of their gestures in the form of eight drawings (one per hour).

Each 12” x 12” drawing of the series devises a different way to translate the sounds each of us heard.

Some are systematic/schematic, others are more immediate/performative.

They convey the repetiveness of the gestures but also their endless variations.

We want to honor the worker rather than the product. The work rather than the productivity.