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For immediate release Public Art Fund presents? ARTIST
TONY OURSLER'S THE INFLUENCE MACHINE The first exhibition in the Target Art in the Park series: See Oursler's nocturnal transformation
of Madison Square Park into a NEW YORK, NY, October 19, 2000 - For thirteen nights, from October 19th through October 31st, visitors to Madison Square Park can experience video artist Tony Oursler's extensive public installation The Influence Machine. This nocturnal exhibition, amidst the construction detritus of the park's major renovations, captures voices and images of ghosts, both contemporary and historical, creating a séance experience that recalls 19th-century son et lumiere (sound and light) projections. Oursler, one of the most influential artists of his generation, experiments with video, smoke machines, a variety of soundtracks and several sculptural elements to explore the historical and current impact mimetic technologies have on our daily lives. Oursler's The Influence Machine is the first exhibition in the Target Art in the Park series, which is organized by Public Art Fund and dedicated to bringing the most engaging contemporary art to Madison Square Park. Target Art in the Park is funded through a $1 million gift from Target Stores to the City Parks Foundation, the organization overseeing the historic park's revitalization initiative, the Campaign for the New Madison Square Park. The Influence Machine is comprised of projections onto smoke and trees of large faces, which are speaking broken narratives, some poetic texts written by Oursler for this project, and others voices from the history of early technology. Images of knocking hands are projected onto trees and surrounding buildings with corresponding knocking sounds that allude to Morse code and other early communications technologies. Texts run over construction fencing and trees pronouncing intimate and encoded messages. A human voice emanating from a lamppost with a synchronized blinking light transmits messages provided by the public through the interactive web site www.influencemachine.com. In addition to Oursler's abstract narratives, the soundtrack for The Influence Machine includes 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. All of these elements are historically rich, with references to early technological developments. The knocking images and sounds are based on a 19th-century adolescent mystic named Kate Fox, who contacted the spirit world through a mysterious Morse code of knocking sounds. Other texts reflect historical figures like Gaspar Robertson, who founded the first moving image theater in a Parisian crypt in 1763, and John Logie Baird, the British inventor of the mechanical television, who used ventriloquist dummies rather than actors for his first broadcast experiments in the 1920s. Collectively, these elements relate to societal responses to technology and the spiritual affinities often assigned to them, all increasingly relevant as contemporary society finds itself constantly engaged with telephone, television and the Internet throughout the course of daily life. Target Art in the Park Target Art in the Park debuts while the park is under construction, and
heralds the revitalized Madison Square Park dedication in spring of 2001
with a major exhibition of renowned international artists. Target Art in the Park creates a unique urban experience by siting contemporary art
in a beautifully restored Victorian Park in the heart of New York's Flatiron
Building district, re-establishing Madison Square Park as a cultural destination
in the city. About Public Art Fund The Public Art Fund is a nonprofit arts organization supported by generous gifts from individuals, foundations and corporations, and with public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Campaign for the New Madison Square Park Target Stores # # # Contact:
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