# Gary Hill [Wikipedia Link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Hill) ( 1951 – ) ## Description American video and installation artist, based in the Pacific Northwest, whose work treats language, text, and the body as material to be processed, projected, and fragmented — using video less as a documentary or narrative medium than as a tool for investigating perception, meaning, and embodiment. ## Key Tags #installation #northwest #early-video #projection #language ## Essential Works - *Wall Piece* (2000) - strobe-lit performance-for-video in which Hill's body repeatedly hurls itself against a wall while speaking fragmented text - *Viewer* (1996) - multi-channel projection of life-sized laborers standing and returning the viewer's gaze - *Tall Ships* (1992) - corridor installation of small ghostly figures that approach the viewer as they walk past ## Details Began as a sculptor before moving into video in the early 1970s, developing an idiosyncratic practice that treats electronic signal, text, and the body as interchangeable material — video as a medium for thinking about language and perception rather than for storytelling. A MacArthur Fellow (1998), long based in Seattle. ### Concepts and Theories %% none yet %% ### Creative and Technical Practices - [[Video Art]] - major figure extending video installation toward language- and body-based conceptual work ### Collaborators %% none yet %% ### Institutional Affiliations and Associated Movements %% none yet %% ## References ### Primary Sources Bibliography Hill, Gary. *Wall Piece*. 2000. Strobe-lit performance-for-video piece exemplifying his body/language/video practice. ### Secondary Sources Bibliography Morgan, Robert C., editor. *Gary Hill*. PAJ Books / Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. First critical edition on Hill's work, collecting essays including by Jacques Derrida.