Published:
Audio walk
50 minutes
Commissioned by Artangel
Janet Cardiff created The Missing Voice (Case Study B) in 1999 after visiting the former Whitechapel Library. The audio narrative takes visitors on a guided walk starting in the crime section in the library reading room and then weaving through the neighbouring streets of Brick Lane, Spitalfields and Bishopsgate in the City of London. The recording includes multiple voices, which tell a mysterious and incomplete story.
Since this artwork was first created, many of the sights and landmarks in the area have changed. Not least the Whitechapel Library, which relocated in 2006 and its former building incorporated into the gallery. The experience of the walk has partly evolved into a document of impermanence and urban transformation.
Listen here:
The audio walk lasts for just under one hour and ends near Liverpool Street station. Since 1999 the local area has changed considerably and continues to do so. Please be aware that there may be some discrepancies along the way, including changes to street crossings. Whitechapel Library relocated in 2006 and Whitechapel Gallery has since expanded into its former location.
To start:
The walk starts in a set of bookshelves in the room opposite the café. Please remain in the building by the bookshelves for the first 5 minutes and 16 seconds of the audio walk. Afterwards you will be instructed to leave the building by the Library entrance (directly adjacent to the café) and to turn right onto Whitechapel High Street, walking past the Whitechapel Gallery and towards Commercial Street.
In Section 2 of the audio walk you will be asked to walk towards ‘Eat, Drink Restaurant’ (now Ottolenghi – red & white striped awnings). After crossing the road, walk to your right then immediate left down Artillery Lane. Walk straight ahead down Artillery Passage, keeping Ottolenghi on your right as you pass.
To finish:
Liverpool Street station is about 10 minutes’ walk away from the Gallery. The Gallery’s opening hours are 11am-6pm, Tuesdays to Sundays (11am-9pm on Thursdays).
Janet Cardiff on The Missing Voice
“Sometimes I don’t really know what the stories in my walks are about. Mostly they are a response to the location, almost as if the site were a Rorschach test that I am interpreting. For me, The Missing Voice was partly a response to living in a large city like London for a while, reading about its history in quiet libraries, seeing newspaper headlines as I walked by the new stands, overhearing gossip, and being a solitary person lost amongst the masses.
Normally, I live in a small town in Canada, so the London experience enhanced the paranoia that I think is common to a lot of people, especially women, as they adjust to a strange city. I was trying to relate to the listener the stream-of-consciousness scenarios that I constantly invent in my mind when I see someone pass or walk down a dark alley. It is one of my frustrations as well as entertainments to constantly have these visions and voices, which are quite often scary or violent, running through my brain as I encounter the simplest of realities. I think it is a desire to dramatize my life, make it real by making it cinematic – probably the result of reading too many detective novels or watching too many movies.
Part of the process for the piece was to walk around and take notes on my mini voice recorder. While listening to these notes again in my apartment I realized how this voice became another woman, a character different from myself, a companion of sorts. This voice also seemed to metaphorically represent how we all have multiple personalities and voices. I saw the woman in the story not only as alienated from herself, but also searching for herself through this voice, play-acting, creating false dangers and love affairs, wanting her story dramatized. At the same time, her voiceover, the one that speaks in the third person, removes her from the story, and keeps her at a safe distance.”
sound of phone ringing, receptionist answering
Janet I’m standing in the library with you, you can hear the turning of newspaper pages, people talking softly. There’s a man standing beside me, he’s looking in the crime section now. He reaches to pick up a book, opens it, leafs through a few pages and puts it back on the shelf. He’s wandering off to the right. Pick up the book he looked at … it’s on the third shelf down. It’s called Dreams of Darkness, by Reginald Hill. I’m opening it to page 88. ‘She set off back at a brisk pace in a rutted and muddy lane, about a furlong from the house she thought she heard a sound ahead of her. She paused. She could hear nothing but her straining eyes caught a movement in the gloom. Someone was approaching. A foot splashed in a puddle.
scary movie music rises during excerpt from book, girl screams, music fades out
Janet Sometimes when you read things it seems like you’re remembering them. Close the book. Put it back to where you found it. Go to the right. Walk past the main desk. Through the turnstile.
sound of voices, conversations
Detective Man’s Voice, British accent One of the librarians recognized her from the photograph.
[…]
siren passes
Janet Turn to the right, Gunthorpe Street. A man just went into the side door of the pub.
sound of tape recorder being stopped, rewound, replayed
Janet recorded voice A man just went into the side door of the pub.
sound of recorder being stopped
Janet I’ve a long red-haired wig on now. I look like the woman in the picture. If he sees me now he’ll recognize me.
Detective Found in her bag, two cassette tapes with a receipt and a tape recorder … As far as I can tell she’s mapping different paths through the city. I can’t seem to find a reason for the things she notices and records.
J vox recorded A naked man is walking up the street towards me. He’s walking as if he is sleeping, staring straight ahead. He walks past me without seeing me.
sound of recorded being stopped
[…]
Janet I dreamt last night that I was a soldier in a war who was sleeping, dreaming a nightmare through his dream, I dreamt of a giant, white polar bear covered in blood, chasing him down a gravel road. He dreamt of a tea bag already spent, soaking in clear water. He dreamt of flying over a vast forest.
street sounds resume
[…]
Detective Inside the package a wig, beige scarf, a linen suit, and leather shoes.
Janet Go down the stairs. I keep thinking the package that I sent to him, it was a sign to tell him that she didn’t exist, that it was over, but I have a sick feeling that somehow it has something to do with her death. Keep going in the same direction.
Detective I’ve started listening to her tapes at night in a darkened room. In the morning I set her picture across from me, while I eat my breakfast.
[…]
Janet She’s getting on the train. He runs along the platform. Just as it’s pulling out of the station, she sees his face in the window and tries to hide. As the train picks up speed, she turns her head to watch him fade into the distance. I have to leave now. I wanted to walk you back to the library but there’s not enough time. Please return the Discman as soon as possible. Goodbye.
sound of Janet walking away
