Janet Cardiff: Audio Walks

The viewer or participant of this piece starts at a certain spot with a CD player or Ipod headphones in their ear. Janet Cardiff then comes through the headphones and instructs you where you should go and where you should turn. She directs along a specific route that she had travelled at one point. Along with her voice, you are able to here her footsteps and other background noise that occurred when she originally recorded the piece. I find this so interesting that she creates a completely separate world that only she and the participant shares and inhabit at one time. Since she is walking the same route as the participant of the journey, you are able to experience exactly what she was experiencing when she was at that time. The two worlds blend together as one and you are unable to discern whether the noise is coming from the audio or real life. I feel like this is a very intimate piece that she shares with each of her listeners, even though she is nowhere near the viewer is physical proximity.