o. g. arnold

The Grant Line Tapes are a series of videos created as a conceptual performance video art piece. The accompanying exhibition was an exercise in experimental storytelling, in which the viewer is forced into the story as a bystander of the character’s demise.

The Tapes themselves follow the story of a character who uses a VHS camera to document the discovery of an abandoned house and the surrounding property with her friends. The main discovery of this adventure is a notebook found in the attic of a barn.


As time progresses, the footage begins to distort, glitch, and jump around in time. The character begins to realize that there is something odd going on with the house, the book, and the camera.


By the end of The Tapes, it is revealed that there is an external force manipulating the character and her perception of reality. The audience is left to wonder what has been controlled, what hasn’t, and if this character can even be seen as a reliable narrator in this story.

The exhibition portion of The Grant Line Tapes, originally titled 4917 Grant Line Rd, or just 4917, existed as a two part installment.

The first being a show in the Space Lab at Indiana University Southeast

The second being an on site experience located in an abandoned house – the same house The Tapes were filmed.

For the installation, each of these tapes were played on loop on their own monitors. The audience was invited to explore the area and watch the tapes, as if they themselves had stumbled across this while exploring an abandoned house. Forcing the audience to be a participant in this story, weather they intended on being one or not.