Universe (Installation View), The Universe In A Nutshell Audio Book, Native Audio, Pedestal, Vinyl Print, Media Player, Headphones, 2019
Universe (Installation View), The Universe In A Nutshell Audio Book, Native Audio, Pedestal, Vinyl Print, Media Player, Headphones, 2019
Universe (Vinyl Print), The Universe In A Nutshell Audio Book, Native Audio, Pedestal, Vinyl Print, Media Player, Headphones, 2019
Universe (Audio Track), The Universe In A Nutshell Audio Book, Native Audio, Pedestal, Vinyl Print, Media Player, Headphones, 2019
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Universe uses marginalia in the unlikely context of an audio book, The Universe in a Nutshell by
Stephen Hawking (2001), by sonically recording the actions of the artist as she listens to the
source text. Just as a borrowed book from the library has evidence of its previous readers, this
audible example of marginalia magnifies the experience, as we hear the intimate actions of
Bicknaver engaging with the text before us.
Playing upon the title and content of the source text, Universe juxtaposes the sublime universe
of Stephen Hawking to the mundane everyday “universe” of the artist. Bicknaver’s coughs,
quips, and sighs intermingle with the diegetic sounds of the artist’s apartment in contrast with
Hawking’s explanation of our stunningly amazing universe, reinforcing the banal divergence of
the human experience with the unfathomable existence of everything. A subtle play for power is
evoked between “the read” and “reader” as we hear the artist engage with the universe depicted
in the book, and disengage into her own mundane everyday universe, forcing the text into the
margins of quotidian life.