As part of her extensive research into impaired senses, Faïn spent an entire week in the dark, and also studied the deeply rooted physical connections between the eyes and the rest of nervous system. The Anechoic (“without echo”) Darkroom is a structure made out of wood, cotton, wool, and metal, roughly 7 feet square in size, that Faïn and Kocik designed and built entirely by themselves. Once the participant is sealed inside the darkroom, no light or visual form is distinguishable, and internal and external sounds are muted. The interior of the darkroom is fully lined in soft cotton, and built into it is a place for the participant to sit or lie down if they choose. As with the darkrooms in Greek asklepions, the broad purpose of the Anechoic Darkroom is to stimulate reflection, meditation, or epiphany, but Faïn and Kocik provide no directions for what the participant should do once inside—the participant is transformed into the object of the piece, and so each person’s experience is unique.
Daria Fain and Robert Kocik
ANECHOIC DARKROOM
