The System of Objects

The System of Objects (Installation view) — 7-channel video projection, 593 polystyrene styrofoam balls, thread, dimension variable.

The possession of an independent sense of emergent identity is a major concern of the artist. It is further indicated by his System of Objects video-sculpture installation which deals specifically with singularity and the collective through means of repetition.

In the work, a singular figure stands transfixed in the centre and median point of the concourse of the Oculus building in New York (close to the site of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre), while all around him foot passengers are shown walking backwards as in a state of repetitive reverse gear. Participant spectators add themselves to the greater view over the balloon-like heads of a putative audience.

It evokes the question of our own daily life of conformity and senseless repetition. The video was developed from and related to the painting Idem et Idem, a Latin usage of repetition (literally "Same and the same") revealing a close and immediate intimacy between the artist's time-based film and video works and paintings.