Research for the Guided Tour of Also Known As
2013
Edith Winston is an amateur docent and alter ego of artist Meghan Gordon, here depicted as an alter ego of herself played by Gordon’s younger brother. In this video Winston conducts research pertaining to a show about alter egos in contemporary art. Winston interviews the curator, practices for a tour with decorative art objects, and studies the artworks as the show is being installed. Made for A.K.A. curated by Adam Eckstrom at Davidson Contemporary, July 2 - August 30 2013.
Vignettes of Old Utica: A City Worth Saving
2012
An amateur docent named Edith Winston explores the City of Utica, NY looking for local history.
The Li Family Chinoiserie Memorial Parlor
2011
An amateur docent gives a tour of a fake period room ‘made in China’ at the Times Museum in Guangzhou, China while discussing the concept of Chinoiserie. The video plays on a monitor in front of the actual room, accompanied by four audio tour devices. The texts for these tours were written in the voice of the tour guide character, translated into Cantonese, and were recorded by a professional voice actress. Each of the tours describes a different American period room that loosely interprets notions of China in the Victorian decorative arts. The visitor can choose to enter the room to view the objects or watch the tour of the room on the monitor either with or without the audio tour accompaniment. The objects and the video tour have no direct relationship to the histories being presented on the audio devices.
Frederick Samuel Dellenbaugh would have liked to explore the Palisades
2011
An amateur docent named Edith Winston makes an audition tape to secure a job giving tours of the Second Powell Expedition of the Colorado River (1871-2). Winston uses the Hudson River as a poor substitute for the dramatic Colorado. This video was made in conjunction with the installation of the same name for the Sunroom Project Space at Wave Hill in April 2011, and was displayed inside a cardboard butte with a cave-like interior.
The Burlington Modern Period Room
2008
Video documentation of a performance at Burlington City Arts in Burlington, VT. Gordon borrowed furniture and other household objects from the Burlington community and curated them into a fabricated gallery space. She then gave public tours of the simulated period room dressed as a docent named Edith. Edith delivered a long-winded, anecdotal history for every object in the room as if each had once belonged to “the artist Meghan Gordon.”