John Pilson introduces his most recent video
installation, "Above the Grid" in P.S.1's café. As with his earlier
"Interregna," (2000) which premiered at P.S.1 in Greater New York this past
spring, Pilson explores how life rushes into the corporate environment. The title refers
to Manhattan's gridded street plan as well as to Modernist architecture and its legacy in
Minimalism. In this "controlled" environment, men in business suits sing doo-wop
songs in the corridors, elevators and bathrooms of a corporate office tower.
John Pilson studied at Sarah Lawrence College and at the Yale School of Art. He has
exhibited his work (photographs + video) in Greater New York at P.S.1 Contemporary Art
Center; The City, at the Nicole Klagsburn Gallery; Kunst-Werke, Berlin; and Work, at the
312 Gallery in Chicago. He is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Harvestworks Digital
Media Arts Center and the LMCC World Views Program.
"Above The Grid" refers to the grid design of New York's streets as well as its
corporate corridors. You walk east on 13th street and turn right on 2nd avenue to arrive
at 12th street between 2nd and 1st avenues. Vectors of movement appear rigid. Street games
make use of the grid. In games like four square, chink and boxball, vectors of movement
appear unpredictable and subject to variations. The corporate grid also presents
opportunities for competitive fun. "Above The Grid" collapses street and street
corner activities into corridor and inter-office spaces such as bathrooms and elevators.
The men who sing are singing Doo Wop songs from the 1950s. Doo Wop started on street
corners and in my own experience, I've always sensed an underlying violence in the music
… as if the theme to each song is: "We'd rather be kicking your ass but for now
we'll just sing."
Every elevator holds people who would rather be somewhere, doing something, and the music
never helps.
-John Pilson 10/2/00 |