Joe Johnson | Office Hours 

with audio track ​“Uh oh, Nodal” by Norbert Herber


Look & Listen is a series of audio / visual pairings brought to you by the FAR Center for Contemporary Arts. This third iteration of L&L pairs the audio track ​“Uh oh, Nodal” by Bloomington-based sonic artist Norbert Herber — with Joe Johnson’s new artist book, Office Hours. Office Hours contains photographs made during Johnson’s academic office hours at the University of Missouri, presented in combination with anonymous truncated communications, both official and unofficial, from student to teacher. The book will be on view at Candela Unbound in July.

Johnson’s project gives a taste of what it’s like to be a professor, or rather, what it feels like to occupy that space in an art department, surrounded by students fumbling towards making things. An art teacher coaches students through the range of emotions and roadblocks that accompany creative efforts. A certain kind of level-headed, thick-skinned enthusiasm may be required to sustain this work (and one’s own creative practice besides.) Johnson’s book is, among other things, an amusing offering of empathy for others in the profession.

Norbert Herber often works with visual artists to collaborate on (breathtaking) immersive physical installations. The virtual format here is a different experience, but Herber’s sophisticated audio work still manages to form a kind of space; the sounds fill the studio pictures like a steady gust of wind from another direction. While this track was pre-existing, we were attracted to its energy, and its mesmerizing optimism.

Joe Johnson
joejohnsonprojects​.com
Look at the Office Hours book

Norbert Herber
x‑tet.com
Listen to more of Norbert’s music