Ear­ Worm, 1976/2013

Tony Oursler’s installations and visionary projects have graced numerous galleries and art centres with their innovative, bold and sometimes alarming presence. The American artist have specialized for several decades in creating and staging immersive art experiences that deal with multi-layered philosophical questions in a powerful, inquisitive way. Characteristically, Tony Oursler does not limit himself to a specific tool, relying instead on a range of expressive means – technological devices, sculptures, sounds, screens, wood, paint, metal exteriors. Oursler’s works probe deeply into the relationship between humanity and machines, and the anticipated capacity of technological devices to read human emotions and discern feelings. He investigates themes as far apart as mechanics and spirituality. One of the favorite objects of Tony Oursler's intellectual and artistic curiosity is the human face, and facial outlines take repeatedly a central place in a number of his installations. The artists explores the deep meaning of the facial features as vital and integral part of the human appearance by creating giant, distorted and strangely asymmetric faces with grotesquely slanted parts and bulbous appendages, collaged with metal exteriors and projections screens forming figures that are sad and comical at once. In the darkened halls space of the installation environment they startle, but also endear - despite their size and geometric outline there is humor and vulnerability weaved into their creation - a reminder of the complexity of the being human. The visitors are suddenly compelled to view themselves through somebody else’s eyes – those of synthetic entities, and through the angle of the technology shaping up our daily lives, feeling and attitudes. (Artist website)