Sunset Song

Sunset Song, an 8-minute sound installation by Susan Philipsz, confronts visitors with questions about how an artist can deliver narrative and the ways an artist can sculpt space with sound rather than tactile materials. The name is based on an old Scottish term for a melancholy song dedicated to someone or something that no longer exists. Philipsz sang two versions of a well-known American murder ballad The Banks of Ohio from a woman's viewpoint and then a man's.

Recently purchased by the Hirshhorn, Sunset Song is the first work by Susan Philipsz (b. 1965, Scotland) to enter the collection. She creates sound works that often investigates gender issues, loss, and loneliness and records her own voice singing songs from various sources.