[Audio Guide]
A mouth moves continuously, with several pebbles inside it. It looks like some form of torture, or perhaps like a turtle laying eggs, but the pebbles never spill out, and the mouth stays in contact with the pebbles it holds. Hamilton says that “contact” is important, as there is always interaction between what is touching and what is being touched. The movements of our mouths, which vibrate the air when we speak, may actually be a form of molding behavior that also acts on the recipients of our speech. The title, Aleph, is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. It represents the sound “ah,” also said to be the sound that naturally emerges from the vocal cords when we attempt to vocalize. Watching this video embedded in the wall reminds us of the ancient past when voices and words were first formed, and the intrinsic power of molding that they possess.
