‘Ann Hamilton: Phora’ explores origins of public speaking
ANN HAMILTON: PHORA opens at the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery on the Lee campus of Florida SouthWestern State College with a public reception from 6:00-8:00 p.m. on Friday, January 20. Occupying the walls (nearly floor-to-ceiling) with more than 120 unique stills captured by the artist from close-up video taken of the mouths of carved medieval figures at the Museum of National Antiquities in 
Stockholm, the silent, non-sentient, color-saturated facial features appear reanimated by this immersive installation of digital images.
Initially conceived for the architectural context of l
a maison rouge in Paris, France, the exhibition was inspired by two highly-symbolic locales – the Bastille (as the voice of civic demonstration) and the Bastille Opera (as a demonstrative public voice). ANN HAMILTON: PHORA thus explores the origins of public speaking from the first forums to on-going political debate, and is opening on the day of the U.S. Presidential Inauguration.
Presented for the first-time with THE FIRST LINE (Sounds for 
Drawing), an experimental drawing project and participatory installation by Ann Hamilton and Andrew Deutsch, this component encourages visitors to take a “hands-on” role by contributing their own drawing in response to 
audio tracks played through a headset while a newly-commissioned composition featuring micro-loops of the artist’s voice is played aloud in the Gallery to provide further inspiration and a soundtrack both for THE FIRST LINE and PHORA.
Widely-celebrated for her site-sensitive, multimedia, participatory and performance-based work, Hamilton has 
enjoyed solo exhibitions and large-scale installations at The Museum of Modern Art (New York City), the Guggenheim Museum (New York City), Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden (Washington, D.C.), Musée d’art Contemporain (Lyon, France), Stedelijk Van 
Abbemuseum ( The Netherlands), Tate Gallery (Liverpool, England) and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles). The official United States representative at the 48th Venice Biennale in Italy and the 1991 São Paulo Biennial in Brazil, Ms. Hamilton was recipient of the prestigious MacArthur “Genius Award” Fellowship and a NEA National Medal of Arts Award (presented at the White House by 
President Barack Obama in 2015).
A press preview lecture and exhibition walk-through at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, January 20 by FSW Humanities Professor Dr. Wendy Chase and special guest Andrew Deutsch (Ann Hamilton’s longtime collaborator and Professor of Sound Design & Video Arts at Alfred University) is also open to the public.
About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.