Bay Area Premieres!

Artist in Person

"Language is innate. We bring the sentence with us. And grammar is the slap of the midwife." This is the kernel of Jacqueline Goss's So To Speak (2000, 21 mins), an elegantly composed meditation on the crux of language, using the "case studies" of Helen Keller and Genie, the "wild child." An idyllic country house represents the place of meaning, and both Keller and Genie learn the intimate details of its structure as they struggle to be heard. Without "speech" these two innocents have nothing but the silence of an interior life. Goss takes us on a "tour of the house and grounds of language," its captivating visual spaces invested with import as text flutters about and voices whisper ghostly instructions. A comic counterpoint, Slapstickers (1999, 6 mins) drops Dian Fossy in the middle of suburbia, along with her favorite gorilla, Digit. Rising to the demands of consumerism, Digit tailors his language acquisition to the subject at hand, fast foods and junk culture. Goss's newest work, The 100th Undone (2001, B&W, 9 mins), leaves her speechless in the face of human genomics. Quirky anecdotes, news stories, and assorted data compose what the artist calls "a personalized prehistory for human clones." Several other works will be shown, some hot off the hard drive.