Science and Progress-Tony Oursler- week 5
New York 1996
'Eyes' 1996








Research Tony Oursler's projection sculpture to identify some of the ideas and methods he uses in his work.

How do you think the Enlightenment concepts of Science, progress, reason, individualism, empiricism, universalism, freedom and secularism can be applied to Oursler's work?

Refer to pages 96 and 97 in the ALVC handbook for the full list of key ideas of the Enlightenment. Also use Youtube, the internet and the library to research Oursler's work.
Posted by Julia at 1:45 AM 0 comments
Labels: empiricism, freedom, individualsim, progress, projection sculpture, reason, Science, secularism

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Week 5 Science and Progress-Tony Oursler

Research Tony Oursler's projection sculpture to identify some of the ideas and methods he uses in his work.


Tony Oursler has used the medium of film to create his own unique sculptural aesthetic, taking the images out of the television box and making them function in three-dimensional space. A recurrent theme in Oursler's work is the way in which visual technologies influence and even modify our social and psychological selves. His practice continuously engages with popular culture and questions how systems of mechanical reproduction, like photography, film and television, have come to dictate not only the way we see the world, but also the ways that images are constructed. Ourlser's formal vocabulary is deceptively simple, employing objects of everyday life, both high and low, that range from kitsch to folk art, and investing them with a new aesthetic meaning. A key feature of his work is the ways in which the human body comes into play. On one level the body is employed in a very literal sense through the projection of fragmented and alienating body parts onto fibreglass forms. On another level the body functions through the encounter with the work. Oursler's scenarios constantly invoke the very human wish to lose oneself in fantasy.


In my opinion, Oursler's work covers many different concepts of science. He uses many different materials to create his work. He used projectors to show images onto objects in a way that it looks like the object is three-dimensional. Oursler's artwork is very unique in the way that the media and the way he uses different materials to present his work is very different to other artists. The media he presents consists of both photography and film.

This gives the audience a feeling of difference in each of his work so it all vary's from work to work. Enlightenment in Oursler's work consists on the different ideas he uses to present his work, this relies on science and technology to allow Oursler to present his work in the manor he does today. Time will allow Oursler to work with different elements to construct his work. An example of this is that if it wasn't for technology, Oursler would not be able to create his work because it relies heavily on technology.