The tape was shot in the Aysen Province in Chile, where Orentlicher lived as a member of the Peace Corps from 1964 to 1966. It deals with the establis-hed circuit of communica-tion in isolated places through the exchan-ge of messages over the radio. The camera dwells within quiet domestic spaces such as kit-chens and living- rooms, business premises, restaurants etc.; sometimes we see shots of the landsca-pe. The rooms are nearly always deserted; if a single person (woman) is shown, she appears only at the edge of the screen or in the back-ground. In any case the overall impression is one of a lifeless, cold, and dreary world. The stillness is only broken by the voice on the radio continuously delivering hesitant, but essential, quite perso-nal messages. The isola-tion of the rooms and the landscape is reflected both in the nature of the messa-ges sent and recei-ved, and in the emptiness of the static interi-ors presen-ted. The images have a bizarre effect. Because only a small part of a room is shown, the viewer feels a strong impulse to receive more insight and to obtain a more panoramic view. The obser-ver feels like stan-ding in these spa-ces, i.e. the camera takes the position of the viewer, because the shots corres-pond with the field of vision a person would have. The camera itself hardly ever moves, making the images extremely static, but nevertheless lending them their special effect.
– Susanne Geiser
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Post-production assistant Guillermo Cifuentes, Thanks to Art Media Services School of Art and Design at Syracuse University
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