Mortal Coils, 1994 – 1995

multimedia installation: 4 slide projectors units with motorized mirror systems, 17 motorized manila ropes (diameter ¾ in; 1.9 cm), suspended and revolving from ceiling, units of “In Memoriam” wall scroll text
dimensions variable

Between 1992 and 1995, fifteen friends died, each death altering the interchange of our work, our lives. Mortal Coils is an installation in tribute to their memory. It addresses symbolic and figurative representations of death and the incapacity of our culture to attend to personal loss and grief.
Those dead: Alf Bold, John Cage, John Caldwell, Juan Downey, Lejaren Hiller, Derek Jarman, Joe Jones, Marjorie Keller, Barbara Lehmann, Peter Moore, Charlotte Moorman, Frank Pileggi, David Rattray, Paul Sharits, Hannah Wilke.

Image: Mortal Coils as installed in Carolee Schneemann: Up To and Including Her Limits, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, 1996-97

strips of in memorium collumns are pasted to the back wall, with rope hanging in front; from the right, a face enters the scene and casts a shadow over the papers.