Drifting through Cityscapes Drifting through Cityscapes MTL final copy | 页面 26

Janet Cardiff ( 1957 in Brussels, Ontario, Canada); George Bures Miller ( 1960 in Vegreville,
Alberta, Canada). The two have worked together on multimedia projects in Europe and Can-
ada. They took part in dOCUMENTA 13.With their Video Walk, the artist couple developed a
unique medium for instruction on aspects of history. The work offers a walk over the grounds
of the Kulturbahnhof in Kassel with a portable media player and headset that are available
on loan. Presented on the screen is a video history of the former railway station in text and
images. Historical photographs, previously filmed scenes, commentaries, sounds, and music
bring the past history of the site alive. Walkers who follow the route described in the video see
the places at which they are actually located on the screen. Those who attempt to bring the
depicted events in line with reality as they walk experience a peculiar sense of uncertainty
and irritation—a slightly uncanny atmosphere of simultaneity in which levels of reality are inter-
woven and past and present overlap.
JANET CARDIFF &
GEORGE BURES MILLER
Alter Bahnhof
video walk