mixed media

Target Art in the Park
October 19 - 31, 2000

Madison Square Park

Tony Oursler's The Influence Machine, installed at Madison Square Park, captured voices and images of ghosts, both contemporary and historical, creating a séance experience that recalled 19th-century sound and light projections. Oursler experimented with video, smoke machines, a variety of soundtracks, and several sculptural elements to explore the historical and current impact technologies have on our daily lives.

The Influence Machine was comprised of projections of large faces onto smoke and trees with corresponding narratives--poetic texts written by Oursler for this project and other voices from the history of early technology. Images of knocking hands were also projected onto trees and surrounding buildings with corresponding knocking sounds that alluded to Morse code and other early forms of communication. Texts ran over construction fencing and trees pronouncing intimate and encoded messages. In addition to Oursler's abstract narratives, the soundtrack for The Influence Machine included segments of radio feedback, the unusual sounds of a glass harmonica performed by Dean Shostak, and a score by Tony Conrad commissioned for this project.

Artist Bio
Born in New York in 1957, Tony Oursler received his BFA degree from the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA. His work often combines spoken text with moving images and sculptural objects, confronting the viewer with fragmented narratives that convey alienation and psychological disorders. He has had solo exhibitions at Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA (1999); Center for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, Poland (1999); Soleded Lorenzo, Madrid, Spain (1998); and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. (1998). In 2000, The Influence Machine traveled to Soho Square, London. Oursler lives and works in New York City.

Sponsorship
The Influence Machine was the first exhibition of a three-year public art program called Target Art in the Park, organized by the Public Art Fund on behalf of the City Parks Foundation and sponsored by Target Stores.

 

Location
Madison Square Park is located on Madison Avenue between 23rd and 25th Streets.