1.2 Fast Rewind: The Conversationalist

The Conversationalist breaks down conversation to its bare minimum. Not only is the timing disjointed, but the balance is skewed in the direction of the participants. The timing of each person entering the room, perhaps recording a statement and listening to the work as a whole, is increasingly slow as more stories are added to the recording. The recorded nature of the instructions and stories also means that the ‘conversation’ can’t have the organic back-and-forth that a person to person conversation would. Each participant must wait their turn. Despite the stiff structure of the piece, however, it uses that structure to highlight how conversation centers on a few words, passed back and forth, growing ever more complicated.

One aspect of The Conversationalist that sticks out is how the balance of speaking changes over time. In the beginning, the people entering the room have the opportunity to talk for a far longer time than the recorded voice does. The conversation is heavily weighted in their direction. But as the piece continues, the recorded stories begin to outweigh what any one participant could contribute. This change also highlights a kind of conversational back and forth between the recording and the participants.

A feature of The Conversationalist that I find particularly interesting is how the structure compares to modern interactions with the internet. Over time, the internet has grown so vast as people contribute to it that no one person can absorb it all.