-Research Tony Oursler's projection sculpture to identify some of the ideas and methods he uses in his work.
Tony Oursler has used the medium of film to create his own unique sculptural aesthetic, taking the images out of the television box and making them function in three-dimensional space. A recurrent theme in Oursler's work is the way in which visual technologies influence and even modify our social and psychological selves. His practice continuously engages with popular culture and questions how systems of mechanical reproduction, like photography, film and television, have come to dictate not only the way we see the world, but also the ways that images are constructed. Ourlser's formal vocabulary is deceptively simple, employing objects of everyday life, both high and low, that range from kitsch to folk art, and investing them with a new aesthetic meaning. A key feature of his work is the ways in which the human body comes into play. On one level the body is employed in a very literal sense through the projection of fragmented and alienating body parts onto fibreglass forms. On another level the body functions through the encounter with the work. Oursler's scenarios constantly invoke the very human wish to lose oneself in fantasy.
-How do you think the Enlightenment concepts of Science, progress, reason, individualism, empiricism, universalism, freedom and secularism can be applied to Oursler's work?
Drawing extensively from his obsessively researched timeline,
Tony Oursler will freely employ the strategies, all that
abracadabra, now you see it now you don’t, smoke and mirrors
prestidigitation, of proto-cinematic projections, as an investigation
into the arcane roots of his supposedly new medium and an
intervention into the mysticist causes for all these extraordinary
effects. From Gaspar Robertson’s moving image theater of the
1780’s conjuring the devil in a Parisian crypt, to Kircher’s camera
obscura, running parallel yet divergent to its age of Enlightenment,
Oursler takes those shadows out of Plato’s Cave and does the
whole phantasmagorical light show of evolving technology’s
increasingly more sophisticated projections. And more than simply
the quasi-scientific charlatan’s way of conjuring the worlds
beyond, the way in which Oursler distills this technology is in
itself a life after death, a mode of reproduction in the simulacra, of
living on through what has been made, that is at the heart of The
Influence Machine . Technology is its own post-human Golem
here, not so much the persistence of spirit as the interminable
machine. Be it all the ways that technology cheats death, from
perpetual simulation to more simply scaring the begeesus out of
people, the ways in which television’s constant
reminder/rebroadcast of death acts to invoke some personal victory
over it (this time) for the viewer, or the immediate, nearly
concurrent rise of spirit photography that accompanied the birth of
this seminal medium of mechanical reproduction — Oursler
understands how the mystery of every technological innovation has
brought with it a deeply superstitious sense of possibility in terms
of communicating with the dead.
I like your point of view. Tony Oursler is using combination of sculpture and video to present his work. Oursler explores the relationship between the individual and mass media systems with irony, and imagination.
ReplyDeleteGreat Posting. I was surprised that he is talking about technology so deeply in his works.
ReplyDeleteThis is what I found about him.
Tony Oursler have worked with very interesting theme: Human Head. With the images of human head parts, many of his work explores our mind and psychological aspects in different scenario and also bring up some heavy social context issues.One of interesting works I like is "Cigarette." This is a description of it from Tony Oursler's official website: http://www.tonyoursler.com/individual_work_slideshow.php? navItem=work&workId=8&startDateStr=Feb.%206,%202010&subSection=Installations&allTextFlg=false&title=Number%207,%20Plus%20or%20Minus%202 archived on 26 May 2010
"Cigarettes" a series of oversized, tubular screens with high-definition projection. The effect is that of a smoldering, virtual forest of various Western brands of cigarettes. The viewer's decision to indulge, or not, in various compulsive activities is called into question. This work also has further philosophical ramifications, including the pros and cons of progress as the columns seem to transform into architecture, or an industrial skyline.
This work really reflects the theme of science, empiricism and individualisation well.
I think he well suggests the idea of science, logic, perception of mind though using images of human head organs as some kind of symbolism. Because when I saw his work, it was conspicuous what he wants to show in his work that the images of human head parts are really effective and catchy in suggesting something scientific and something unusual.
Like I said before, your really good at describing and analyzing the work Hyeran, good stuff! I really enjoyed reading this topic, I find Tony Oursler's work very intriguing and intresting to look at. I like how Oursler play around with science and technology in his work, he really clarifies the use of science and logic into his art pieces too. By using human body parts Oursler's work becomes very interesting, and I personally think that his style of doing contemporary art is very unique and sets him apart from all the other typical contemporary artists today. Good blog Hyeran!
ReplyDeleteHey Hyeran you have great information about this work. I quite like his work. he used mix media installaton and video. I think one of his work theme is influence on television, psychological disease and confusion. because he shows many character's confusion and nervous disease usesing his work.
ReplyDelete