Susan Philipsz
The Shallow Sea
2009
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Susan Philipsz
The Shallow Sea
2009
Physical Qualities
Sound installation (1:15 min, followed by 8 min. of silence), Duration: 1 minutes, 15 seconds
Credit Line
Frederick R. Weisman Contemporary Art Acquisitions Endowment
Object Number
2010.55
Indoor or outdoor installation.
From the Artist (per insert in presentation box housing master DVD): The Shallow Sea is inspired by Jack Clayton's 1961 movie "The Innocents" which is based on the American author Henry James chilling ghost story "The Turn of the Screw." In the film an inexperienced governess believes that evil spirits are communicating to each other through the children in her charge. The little girl, Flora, is often heard humming "Oh, Willow Waly," a melancholy song about an abandoned lover who dies of heartbreak. A pivotal scene takes place at the pond in the garden. The little girl starts humming the tune "Oh, Willow Waly" only to have another disembodied voice harmonise with hers. At this moment the spectral figure of the previous governess appears across from her in the pond. For "The Shallow Sea" two recordings of my voice singing the same song will be heard playing unison. I have chosen to sing two identical versions of the song and have them play simultaneously to create the effect of disembodiment and otherness.
Master DVD with presentation box; exhibition copy DVD
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 2010; Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, NY
Kristen Hileman, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Contemporary Wing rotation, 17 November 2012 -
Jennifer Blessing and Nat Trotman, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, "Haunted: Contemporary Photography / Video / Performance," March 26, 2010 to September 6, 2010
Jessica Bell Brown, Cecilia Wichmann, and Leila Grothe, with Antoinette Roberts, Oscar Flores-Montero, Dylan Kaleikaumaka Hill, and Maura Callahan, Baltimore Museum of Art, "Crosscurrents: Works from the Contemporary Collection," February 26, 2025 to September 3, 2025; work on view from April 2, 2025 to September 3, 2025.
Jennifer Blessing and Nat Trotman, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, "Haunted: Contemporary Photography / Video / Performance," March 26, 2010 to September 6, 2010
Jessica Bell Brown, Cecilia Wichmann, and Leila Grothe, with Antoinette Roberts, Oscar Flores-Montero, Dylan Kaleikaumaka Hill, and Maura Callahan, Baltimore Museum of Art, "Crosscurrents: Works from the Contemporary Collection," February 26, 2025 to September 3, 2025; work on view from April 2, 2025 to September 3, 2025.
Blessing, Jennifer, ed. Haunted: Contemporary Photography / Video / Performance. New York, NY: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2010