Response to Janet Cardiff

I responded more to the dialogue in Janet Cardiff's piece than anything else. I really loved the mystery of it; she would be speaking normally about something we can all understand, but then she would tell us something personal, or the male voice would interject. It created this dream-like effect wherein the real world is just as it always is with the addition of a a few warps and an enhanced perception of symbols and signs. However, I also recognize that the dialogue, which was my favorite aspect of the piece, was greatly enhanced by the use of a 3 layer audio. She would have, for example, dialogue in the foreground, footsteps in the middle ground, and appropriate ambience in the background such as water or crickets or machinery of some sort, perhaps some far off voices as well. Without these aspects of the piece, it would not be reality. It would just be a dialogue taking place in a plain, sound-proof recording studio. She didn't want that effect, though; she wanted us to be there with her, in her dream, and I think the three layer structure really worked for her purposes. It imitates reality very accurately.