Tony Oursler's exhibition agentic iced etcetera at the PinchukArtCentre in Kyiv, Ukraine is the first major solo exhibition by the artist in Eastern Europe. Tony Oursler: agentic iced etcetera presents specially produced new works, including a Ukrainian speaking installation, as well as some of the most iconic pieces of the artist. The New York–based artist has been a pioneer of New Media and video art. Tony Oursler is especially known for projecting moving images onto objects. In this video, Eckhard Schneider (General Director, PinchukArtCenter) talks about the mission of PinchukArtCentre, Bjorn Geldhof (Deputy Artistic Director, PinchukArtCenter) speaks about the significance of Tony Oursler's work. Finally Tony Oursler talks in detail about the specially produced new works. The show runs until April 21, 2013.
As Eckhard Schneider, General Director of the PinchukArtCentre states:
“Tony Oursler (born 1957) is one of the pioneers of the genre. For Oursler video is a medium comparable to water in its extreme fluidity, one that had remained imprisoned within television for fifty years. He has not only succeeded in liberating video from the screen, but also in developing it into video sculpture. His works are introspections on the human psyche under the influence of mass media. The majority of the work that will be on show has been created especially for the PinchukArtCentre – a dramatic labyrinth of sensations.”
PinchukArtCentre is an international centre for contemporary art of the 21st century in Kyiv, the capital and largest city of Ukraine. It was opened in 2006 by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.
Tony Oursler: agentic iced etcetera at PinchukArtCenter, Kiev (Ukraine). Interview with Eckhard Schneider, Tony Oursler and Bjorn Geldhof, February 15, 2013. Video by Frantisek Zachoval.
PS: Watch also our 2009 coverage of Tony Oursler: Cell Phones Diagrams Cigarettes Searches and Scratch Cards at Metro Pictures, New York. Running concurrently with the Tony Oursler show at PinchukArtCentre: Jake & Dinos Chapman: Chicken.
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Oursler is today among the most important as well as the most influential artists of the present day. Formally, Oursler has developed a wide-ranging use of materials such as resin, glass, fabric, steel and various found objects, which are kaleidoscopically overlaid with projection, light and sound, forming a unique embodiment of his themes.
Projecting moving images onto objects, Oursler moves beyond traditional uses
of media such as cinema, television and the computer and creates something
akin to “living” sculptures. The scenarios he devises are often full of poetic
and humorous performances, incorporating all manner of physical and auditory
representations of the human form.
Tony Oursler graduated from the California Institute of the Arts in 1979 and
is currently based in New York. Oursler’s works have been widely exhibited
internationally, including solo shows at the ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum (2012);
Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan (2011); Whitney Museum of American Art,
New York (2010); Kunsthaus Bregenz (2009); Kunstforeningen GL Strand,
Copenhagen (2006); Musee d’Orsay, Paris (2004) and many more. Group
exhibitions include the Museum of Art and Design, New York (2012); Cincinnati
Art Museum (2011); Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (2010); Whitney Museum
of American Art, New York (2010) and the Museum of Modern Art, New York
(2008). 1 Elizabeth Janus, “Talking Back – A Conversation with Tony Oursler”,
in Tony Oursler: Introjection (Williamstown: Williams College Museum of Art,
2010).
From the press release:
The PinchukArtCentre (Kyiv, Ukraine) presents the first major solo exhibition
by Tony Oursler in Eastern Europe entitled “agentic iced etcetera”. The
exhibition combines specially produced new works, including a Ukrainian
speaking installation, with some of the most iconic pieces of the artist.
Themes within the exhibition include chance in everyday life, endorphin
fuelled relationships, and the tendency for magical thinking to name a few.
The human face and the way it simultaneously communicates and masks emotions
is also a key theme in Oursler’s work.
Eckhard Schneider, General Director of the PinchukArtCentre: “Tony Oursler
(born 1957) is one of the pioneers of the genre. For Oursler video is a medium
comparable to water in its extreme fluidity, one that had remained imprisoned
within television for fifty years. He has not only succeeded in liberating
video from the screen, but also in developing it into video sculpture. His
works are introspections on the human psyche under the influence of mass
media. The majority of the work that will be on show has been created
especially for the PinchukArtCentre – a dramatic labyrinth of sensations.”
From his earliest videos and installations, the mutability of human nature has
been the central theme of Tony Oursler’s work, fuelled by his fascination with
the inner workings of the psyche and belief systems . The resulting
sculptures, videos and installations challenge the viewer’s preconceptions of
rationality, schizophrenia and culturally constructed notions of good and
evil.
Formally, Oursler has developed a wide-ranging use of materials such as resin,
glass, fabric, steel and various found objects, which are kaleidoscopically
overlaid with projection, light and sound, forming a unique embodiment of his
themes. Oursler’s work invites viewers to question their relationship with
mass (multi-) media and reaches from an examination of television (and its
surrounding structures) to a questioning of the psychological effects of
digital communication tools like mobile phones and the Internet.
Projecting moving images onto objects, Oursler moves beyond traditional uses
of media such as cinema, television and the computer and creates something
akin to “living” sculptures. The scenarios he devises are often full of poetic
and humorous performances, incorporating all manner of physical and auditory
representations of the human form. The works incorporate a spectrum of voices
reflecting numerous performative and literary approaches – florid poetics,
interior monologues, tortured fragments or scientific jargon. Viewers are
invited to complete the script as they move through the exhibition and
confront open-ended, often existential constructs.
Oursler also explores the interaction between sculpture and spectator. He is
aiming for a conversational structure in which the object not only speaks but
also provokes the viewer’s imagination.
The human face reoccurs as subject in “Caricatures” (since 2002), works in
which biomorphic sculptural objects become caricature-like forms literally
brought to life by videos of eyes and mouths that take over the unnatural
proportions of the sculptural object. These works explore the viewer’s
empathic relationship and echo the history of caricature, ranging from early
sculptural forms such as the Venus of Willendorf to the ubiquitous smiley
face.
The artist’s so-called “micro works” are almost like living embodiments of
thought structures. Oursler’s interest in memory, construction and new
scientific discoveries and ontological systems form the basis of these wildly
imaginative microcosms. Landscape, architecture, found objects and amorphic
materials are overlaid with tiny projections which complete the surreal,
microscopic world. Elaborately edited looping structures cover these small
forms and upturn the relationship with the spectator. Each micro-world is
displayed at eye level and mirrors the scale of the human cranium.
On the other hand, the overwhelming scale of “Lock” (2011) semi-forces the
viewer into a total, physical experience of image and sound. Viewers are
dwarfed by the three enormous characters who make up the work and as they pass
through the maze of this projected world, they experience three layers of
interlocking characters: the first representing free will and agency; the
second representing the status quo and human error; the third representing
mathematical symmetry and death. This monumental installation involves key
performances by artist/filmmaker Tony Conrad, vocalizations by
singer/performer Chanique Rogers, a sound collaboration with Dan Lloyd
(Brownell Professor of Philosophy at Trinity College, Hartford) and musical
compositions generated from functional MRI (Magnetic Resonating Image)
readouts of psychological test subjects. The installation has the appearance
of a secretive yet familiar system, loosely divided between the mind, body and
environment, in which synchronized images shift to form a colourful game.
Finally, the exhibition features a screening room of music-themed video. The
screening includes numerous collaborations, including those with Sonic Youth,
Beck, Kim Gordon, Stephen Vitiello and Glenn Branca as well as featuring
Oursler’s recently released music/video collaboration with David Bowie.
The exhibition will be open from February 16 till April 21, 2013 in the PinchukArtCentre. Admission is Free.
