Whisper Down the Lane

source: highlike

Work: Participants were invited to play the telephone game. Instructions were to have one person pick up a card and whisper the phrase down the air duct. The phrases on the cards contained a short sentence of cautionary cultural myths that was gathered from various people who at one time believed the stories to be true. Once the phrase is finished, the group is encouraged to gather and repeat the last phrase and compare to the original phrase to see if it had changed.
Image: Whisper Down the Lane, 2011, 4.6 x 6 x 4.6 m, air ducts, cards, and wood. © Ginny Huo. Courtesy the artist.
Photographer: Lloyd Lowe Jr
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source: soho20gallery

Ginny Huo is an interdisciplinary artist that creates social sculptures and performative installations. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii and lived in various places in the United States and Korea. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in sculpture from Brigham Young University. Ginny received her Master of Fine Arts at the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of the Arts in Baltimore, MD. Her work discusses ideas of cross-culturalism, fear, anxiety, myths, duality of belief and disbelief, and interactions based on meta-communication. The work involves creating structures that act as playful platforms of interaction between participants.

In the piece people can sit and listen to the stories of various people’s myths through air vents. These stories are collected from numerous people with diverse backgrounds and cultures. They include personal facts of how the storyteller heard these myths and how it created a change in their behavior. The step structure replicates the porch-style culture where people are able sit, listen, and share stories. This sculpture creates a space where people can sit and comprehend cultural myths in a more interpersonal way to further the mimetic replication of passing on stories through communication.