CATALOGUE 2000-2001

John PILSON Interregna Vidéo expérimentale - dv - couleur - 0:10:00 - USA - 2000 Biographie 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. Note 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. "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)