200 Lafayette
May – June 2011
New York City
The Window Series includes six videos by artist and filmmaker Shannon Plumb that explore notions of voyeurism, intimacy, humor and silence in the context of a large city. Studying an image of a New York City apartment building, Plumb began to imagine the many different worlds that existed behind each of the individual windows, leading to an investigation of multiple imagined lives. Here, the works are presented in two windows, offering passersby a spontaneous glimpse into the daily lives of the inhabitants within, including a mother, a sports fan, a gallerist, a woman in a burqua, a YouTube hater, and a lover engaged a long goodbye. Plumb gives the public an intimate view into these private moments that have been made public. For these works, Plumb writes the scripts, prepares the sets, costumes and make-up, and then performs in the videos. Drawing on the universal language of humor, she foregoes sound in the works, leaving the physical, slapstick comedy to speak for itself.
The artist conceives these works as the first in a larger series of works, which she would like to install throughout the city. This is the first time that Plumb’s works have been presented as she conceived them, in exterior windows.
This exhibition is produced in partnership with The New Museum’s Festival of Ideas for the New City and made possible with the generous support of Sara Story Design.