Tony Oursler’s Public Art Installation
Runs for the duration of Luminato in Grange Park and Young Gallery
Review and Photos by Helen Fylactou
Based out of New York, internationally-renowned Tony Oursler has been generating buzz since the 1970s. Abstracting the ways we look at desires, obsessions, technology, and phobias, he creates installation pieces consisting of video, spoken word, and sculpted objects. Needless to say, I was excited to see his work. So my friend and I started our trek to Grange Park, where two of his three installation pieces are currently being exhibited.
The first installation was a glass house. A glass house filled with garbage. Although it was somewhat amusing checking out the encapsulated treasures, I could have just walked around the park looking at the garbage and basically gotten the same feeling of discomfort that the piece tried to evoke. Inside the glass house, flatscreen televisions with moving images of people and a stream-of-consciousness, never-ending conversation played from speakers. The conversation reflected the notion of hoarding, and the installation helped the viewer fulfill some sort of secret desire of voyeurism.
The next installation piece was located next to the AGO, and was very similar to the first — minus the garbage. It was a glass house with hanging video screen. In lieu of the garbage, Oursler opted to fill this house with neon-coloured sheets of hanging plastic. The flatscreen television and coloured sheets became the interior bricks of the house and changed the interior space of the 3D installation. The house was visually pleasing, but didn’t hold my attention for very long. The soundtrack for this house was reflective of the kind of substance abuse that’s socially accepted, but the longer the audience interacts with the installation, the more liminal the space becomes.
In a surprising twist, the third installation (in the Young Gallery) was strangely beautiful. Tony Oursler is a master at creating anthropomorphic art. By projecting video of an eye, Oursler animates a white sphere placed in the corner of the room. Shifting from right to left, and from blinking to a stare, I found myself in awe of the eye and stuck in a bizarre, ghostly staredown. In the same room, Oursler placed a sculpture of half a house. And in this house was a projection of a blue person frantically almost-pacing around one room. The disembodied voices and the eerie echo of the voice made the room feel like a bad/awesome ’70s horror film, helping to break down the idea and structure and igniting a fear of losing stability.
Worth checking out if you’re interested in video installation art.
