Standing somnolently all around us, witnessing every moment are the buildings of our world. In a constant state of simultaneous renewal and degradation, generations of humanity pass through them, leaving behind trails and signatures on their concrete and mortar walls. Peel away layers of paint and they tell tales from decades past; demolish them entirely and their foundations reveal stories from antiquity. If these structures could somehow communicate with us, what might we learn from their experience and wisdom? Through a site-specific installation, I propose to investigate this question. The outside of the Brousseau Building at 204 Warren Street in Hudson, NY will be retrofitted with a façade designed to bring out the inherit personality or character of the building. Using a computer generated synthetic voice and motion sensors to let it know when there is a human near by, the building will whisper, speak, and scream to pedestrians details of it’s interior, history, and the current objects that reside in it. |