no image available
Bruce Nauman - Footsteps
Label:
Catalog#:
none
Format:
Reel-To-Reel, 3 ¾ ips, ¼", loop
Country:
US
Released:
Oct 1968
Genre:
Non-Music
Style:
Field Recording
Notes
This is a loose piece of magnetic tape wrapped around a folded card with the following instructions:
Set the tape recorder for the speed indicated (3½)
Use a bottle or anything else you can think of to keep tension on the loop after you thread it on the machine. (if there is no sound on the tape, it may be upside down)
Play the tape quite loudly for as long as you want or can stand
The recording is just footsteps and ambient sound.
Included as part of SMS No 5 along with works by Congo, Yoko Ono, Mel Ramos, Neil Jenney, Robert Rohm, Lawrence Weiner, Angus MacLise, Edward Fitzgerald, William Anthony, William Copley, Diane Wakoski, William Schwedler and Wall Batterton.
Set the tape recorder for the speed indicated (3½)
Use a bottle or anything else you can think of to keep tension on the loop after you thread it on the machine. (if there is no sound on the tape, it may be upside down)
Play the tape quite loudly for as long as you want or can stand
The recording is just footsteps and ambient sound.
Included as part of SMS No 5 along with works by Congo, Yoko Ono, Mel Ramos, Neil Jenney, Robert Rohm, Lawrence Weiner, Angus MacLise, Edward Fitzgerald, William Anthony, William Copley, Diane Wakoski, William Schwedler and Wall Batterton.
▸ show all 1 review
Reviews & Discussion
One of the more conceptual audio pieces included in the SMS series, this requires more effort to set up for playback than the others. The tape is wrapped around a card with instructions and must be removed (it is taped to the card on both ends) and spliced together for playback. Although knowledge of magnetic tape will guide the listener as to which side is the playable surface, there is no indication as to which is the beginning and end so it it easy to mount the tape backwards. However as the recording is simply a loop of footsteps, it is ease to quick discern whether the tape is being played in the correct direction. Despite the implications suggested by the instructions, the audio is not confrontational and the reference to as long as you "can stand" seem to refer more to the listener's attention span rather than tolerance. Likewise the instruction to "play the tape quite loudly" seems to refer to the fact that the tape is in fact rather quiet. In my own experience, I found that playing back the tape was a two man job and difficult to keep playing back continuously for very long, although this was probably due to the mechanics of the particular open reel deck we were using and may be much easier to set up with a different playback deck. While I was more concerned with keeping the playback continuous than noting the actual time of the loop (and didn't think to measure the tape when we had it unfolded from the card), I was struck that the loop was more than several seconds in length and was actually a very enjoyable listening experience. Given the effort required to play this back, I would assume this is the one of the less often played audio works in the SMS series, but worth the effort to set up.