Satie 840

The music 'Vexations' was composed by Eric Satie in 1893, it was made for piano and consists of a short 52 beat musical phrase that is repeated 840 times. 'Satie 840' was my attempt to experience what 840 repetitions feels like - by chalking numbers on a blackboard. Starting at one each number was drawn and rubbed out by hand then replaced by the next number in basic numerical sequence. The whole process is repeated until the number 840 is reached. The event was continuous and filmed with a static camera in real time, this referenced the labour combining the action with the counting process. The film was then put into a loop, playing continually on a screen mounted next-to the original blackboard with the static 840 chalked onto the surface. The video shown here is an edited version of the 3 hr original.