Janek Schaefer Recorded Delivery
1995
In 1995 Janek Schaefer packaged up a voice activated Dictaphone and posted it to the venue of the group show 'Self Storage', organised by Art Angel, curated by Brian Eno and Laurie Anderson. The resulting work is a recording of loudest (or 'most sonically interesting') 72 minutes of the parcel's 15 hour journey to Acorn Self-Storage in Wembley. Predominantly comprised of the incidental clatters, rustles and bangs of a parcel passing through the postal system, the piece is interspersed with snippets of music and conversation, plus some bawdy back-room banter from some postal workers. The work is a succinct self-contained document of its own creation; a composition set into motion by the artist's act of defining its parameters.