Sleepwalkers

During the past decade, Los Angeles-based artist Doug Aitken has created innovative video art by fracturing the narrative structures of his films across multi-screen environments. In the spring of 2007, Doug Aitken: Sleepwalkers premiered as a monumental outdoor video projection onto seven facades of the Museum of Modern Art in midtown Manhattan. The silent story, told with exquisite imagery, chronicles the lives of five charactersas they move through New York City. Sleepwalkers features a diverse cast of actors, including Academy Award-winner Tilda Swinton as an office worker; Donald Sutherland as a businessman; musician Chan Marshall (who goes by the stage name Cat Power) as a postal worker; New York City street drummer Ryan Donowho as a bike messenger; and musician and actor Seu Jorge as an electrician. The Sleepwalkers Box is Doug Aitken's groundbreaking multi-screen film reimagined as a tactile multimedia experience. By placing the story fragments, characters, and imagery from Sleepwalkers directly into the hands of his audience, Aitken creates an exciting new interactive work made of compelling material that can be combined, juxtaposed, and experienced in any order. Taking its cue from multimedia artist editions of thepast, this beautifully designed, limited edition artist's box contains an assortment of media related to Sleepwalkers A one-hundred-page visual diary of the making of the film that includes sketches, production photos, filmstills, script fragments, and collections of found inspirational images. A 12" clear vinyl picture disc with specially designed optical artwork that comes to life when spinning at 33-1/3 rpm. The musical performances on this record were recorded during a "happening" staged at MoMA tocelebrate the original opening of Sleepwalkers. A double-sided poster that unfolds to twice the size of the box. Two flipbooks that contain motion sequences excerpted from the film and images of the film's screening in the context of the museum facade. A CD contains Doug Aitken's soundtrack for Sleepwalkers, including tracks by Broadcast, Bibio, Steve Roden, and Tim Hecker. A DVD captures the viewer's experience of Sleepwalkers in a street level walk-through.