'Jon Kessler is well known for his homemade mechanisms that activate found representations, usually drawn from mass culture, often with delirious lighting and compulsive movement. Yet over the last five years-that is, since 9/11-a shift has occurred in his work. He has introduced video, mostly in the low-tech form of small surveillance cameras, some of which relay the bizarre actions of automatons on nearby monitors. He has expanded the scale of his mechanical tableaux, sometimes to the point where they almost engulf the viewer in a noisy tangle of gadgets, screens, cables, and wires. And he has responded, directly and indirectly, to the image-world of the Bush era, reworking news bites, military reports, tourist postcards, seductive ads, and franchised toys into delirious little dramas that deconstruct some of the political fixations and cultural fascinations of contemporary America. Imagine The Light-Space Modulator of Moholy-Nagy redone with gizmos found on Canal Street by an artist who (like Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange) was forced to watch the awful events of the last five years on television.
'The use of video, Kessler has remarked, “freed me to think of the machine as events and the image created as the spectacle.” This formulation points to the circularity of his image-mechanisms, but there are also breaks within them. For even as his machines stage events for his cameras, the setups are rough, and the viewer not only watches the low-tech images but also sees their madcap production, which is sometimes so close to destruction that the two cannot be easily separated. The automatic aspect of the image-mechanisms is thus far from perfect or stable: Like little Frankenstein's monsters, they almost threaten to turn, if not on their maker, then on their viewer. And this viewer is also far from whole or secure: One not only sees but also is sometimes seen, and no two viewers witness precisely the same thing. Machine and image try “to complete each other, which is impossible,” Kessler comments, and so “a puncture” is produced between the real and its representation-a puncture that allows us to see through these setups and, in principle, to see through others in the world. Through his own little dysfunctional spectacles, then, Kessler suggests that the great spectacle of American power is also in trouble, that its wizards cannot maintain its theater of illusions forever, that wondrous new technologies are always haunted by awful new disasters, and so on. And in this way, he points to another crucial contradiction of the American Empire today: Even as its power goes unchecked by its allies, let alone by its enemies, its image, especially in the Middle East, continues to take a beating.
'Kessler recalls various predecessors: Robert Rauschenberg and his rambunctious combinations of media appropriations, Claes Oldenburg and his regressive theater of homemade objects, Jean Tinguely and his auto-destructive contraptions, and so on. Closer to the present, one might also think of Mike Kelley and his inspired reenactments of the weird things that asocial men concoct in their basements and backyards. Other associations come to mind as well-media theorists like Paul Virilio, filmmakers like David Cronenberg, and fiction writers like Thomas Pynchon and Philip K. Dick. Similarly, Kessler plays with the tension between connection and disconnection in the world, and he, too, constructs “influencing machines” to do so (that could be another rubric for his installations). At the same time, he refuses to be at their mercy; indeed, his machines are models of how to jam, however momentarily, the image-flow of the great machines of power.' -- Hal Foster
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Re:
'Jon Kessler and His Mechanical Art'
JK speaks about and shows his work 'The Blue Period'
Trailer for a Jon Kessler show
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Further
Jon Kessler Official Website
Jon Kessler @ Salon 94
Jon Kessler @ ARNDT
Re: Mika Rottenberg and Jon Kessler's 'Seven'
'Jon Kessler Celebrates the Blue People'
Jon Kessler interviewed @ Artwrit
Saul Ostrow on Jon Kessler @ BOMB
Jon Kessler on Tom Sachs @ BOMB
David Joselit on Jon Kessler @ Artforum
Books by Jon Kessler
Peter Carey 'THE ENTIRE SYSTEM OF DEGRADATION, TURNOVERS AND TRAVESTIES'
Audio: 'THE CHEMISTRY OF TEARS INSPIRES ARTIST JON KESSLER'
Video: Jon Kessler making work in the studio
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Interview
by Gen. Arthur Prinzhorn and Ethan Prinzhorn
In the ’80s, you became known for doing specifically sculptural pieces that embraced elements of kitsch and found objects—how do you see this current show as an extension of the ideas put forth back then?
JK: I was always interested in getting people to look behind the curtain. Getting them to become active viewers, to investigate the mechanism, to suspend their disbelief, and, finally, to have an experience with the objects that I was presenting, even if many of those objects originated as kitsch. The very early work played with pictorial space by creating a duality between the mechanism and the screens that was hopefully more than the sum of its parts. In many ways, this recent video work is a return to this duality. It’s funny that you say I became known in the ’80s. The changes in the work were facilitated by the fact that I felt completely free to reinvent myself. I had lost or left all of my galleries, and there was little interest in the work. When Artforum published the double issue on the ’80s and there was no mention of me at all, I really knew that no one was watching me.
I would also say that there is a related theme in both your early works and your current show, which concerns the fetish. The early work, it seems, plays with this notion of the fetish in relation to objects—the complex power that we lend kitsch, for instance. Similarly, in this current show, you refer to the power that we imbue in the event—the fetish of 9/11. Does this resonate? Are you ever afraid of falling into that trap of fetishizing 9/11 as so many have, politicians as well as artists?
JK: The works from the ’80s did address commodity fetish, although this was never foregrounded in my work the way it was in my contemporaries such as Jeff [Koons] or Haim [Steinbach]. In the Asian-inspired works, it was more of an attempt to fetishize the culture—turning exoticism and otherness into a commodity. As for fetishizing and exploiting the events of 9/11, there is no overestimating the harmful effect that Al Qaeda’s ability to stage a truly murderous image-event had on the control of image production in our culture. September 11 is a constant reminder of America’s vulnerability and proof that we no longer have a monopoly on big violence.
Do you think of your work as interactive art?
JK: My work has included the viewer for many years, so in that sense it’s interactive. Isolated Masses from 1985 had a heater that slowly warmed the viewer if they got close to the work. Path of a Carp from 1987 had an electric eye and voice chip that welcomed the viewer in Japanese. In my new work, everything changed when I removed the background in Party Crasher and the hairy dude occupied the same space as the viewer. This premise of including the viewer continued in Heaven’s Gate, Gisele and the Cinopticon, and exploded in the “The Palace at 4 A.M.” The viewer certainly interacts with my show whether they want to or not by constantly entering the work—completing and disrupting the camera’s sight lines.
[Your work] comments brilliantly on the image production of our time.
JK: One of [my work's] intentions is to oversaturate the viewer’s visual stimuli and expose the world as a prop for the constant fabrication of images to feed our collective desires. Reality shows and photo-op wars are an unambiguous manifestation of this phenomenon and an example of the democratization of voyeurism. The exhibition is emblematic of our historical moment, where time and imagery are conflated, so that our relationship to experience becomes increasingly confused and distorted. This complexity is internalized by the viewer, who simultaneously becomes spectator, performer, voyeur, and exhibitionist. If we are to appreciate our infatuation with and proximity to surveillance, then, for me, the question becomes not How can we destroy the camera? but How can we undermine the surveilled image and empower ourselves?
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Show
En masse
10 works
Lost Boy #2 (2012)
The Future Was Perfect (2012)
Live in Your Head (2012)
Evolution (2005)
Global Village Idiot (2004)
The Prisoner (2010)
Recently (2012)
Hole in Head (2008)
The Palace at 4 AM (2008)
The Trauma Factory (2006)
*
p.s. Hey. Hope you guys had excellent Xmases if you did the Xmas thing. Mine was very low-key and centered around buche eating, which was dandy and all of that. So, you remember how I was whining about fighting off a cold that never became full-fledged about a week or two ago? Well, I seem to have woken up today with some kind of instantaneous cold or maybe flu or something, and I'm all brain-bashed and coughing and 'walking' with a wobbly gait, etc., and I may even go back to bed and hope that this is one of those 24-hour in-and-out deals that extra sleep will kill in its crib. Anyway, I've coffeed myself way up in order to tackle the p.s., but watch out for one or more of the following: listlessness, loopiness, blah. ** Kiddiepunk, Post-Xmas joy to you. It's strangely not cold here. I took a walk yesterday without even wearing a jacket. You would have dug it. Wait, that chocolate cake Xmas village was real? I mean, you made it? I thought you were joking. Wow, okay, nice work, man. Uh, yeah. You must be on your way to summery Australia by now or soon? ** Billy Lloyd, Seeing the words banana and bread in the same sentence made me want banana bread really bad. Oh, wow, the coming to Paris story. Being sick/zonked, this'll be the really short version. My boyfriend is Russian. When we first got involved, he applied for a tourist visa to come visit me in LA. It was denied. (80% of Russians' US visas were being automatically denied back then.) He was denied two more visas. In the meantime, to see each other, I had to either go to Russia or meet up with him here in France, which was a huge hassle. Got to where it was either end the relationship or do something drastic. Lawyers suggested that we move here to France briefly, maybe for six months tops. They said if he got residency status here, he would get a US visa. He got the residency status in a few months, but the US kept denying him visas and still is, four times in all now. So we're still here. We've been here so long now that he can apply to be French citizen. Seemingly, if he gets that, which he should, that will end the visa denial problem, and, ideally, we'll end up living part-time in LA, part-time here. That's the very short version of a real nightmare of a lengthy problem. Great about the probably finished 'Stranger' and that Novation Launchpad thing. Want to see the 'Stranger' video, man! Thanks, Billy! ** 5STRINGS, Lake. Wow, nice present, man. Text and everything. My head is fried, so I'll have to read it tomorrow. Everyone, a late Xmas gift from 5STRINGS that has Aaron Carter in it, so you know it's good. ** I just realized that I'm trying to be too ambitious in the p.s. considering my low brain wattage and achey arms, so I'm going to have to scale it back now, sorry. ** Jeff, Hi, Jeff! Really, really nice to see you, man! I don't know Maria & the Mirrors, no. Thank you! It'll have to wait until I'm at least well-ish again, but I look forward to it. I'm a bit too zonked to link all of those things up for the folks, but I will link up the Leve piece since it's officially a gift. Excited to read that. Leve is so great, not to mention the greatness of Mr. Hester. Everyone, a Xmas gift from d.l. Jeff, and a great one: a previously not translated piece by the late, great French writer Edouard Leve translated by the great writer/ thinker/ d.l. Diarmiud Hester. It's called 'A Night at the Strip Club', and it's here. Take care, Jeff. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi, D. I saved the Wikileaks vid for not-Xmas day, and now it'll have to be saved for a not-sick day. My Crustmas was nice, yours? ** Scunnard, Hi, man. That sounds like a bravo way to have spent Xmas, so I hope you did. Excuse my lack of brain until tomorrow! ** Katalyze, Nothing but honored to have you there, maestro! I hope your Xmas was way sweet. You good? ** Bollo, Hi, J. Xmas itself was okay, or seemed okay, but it feels like it hit me in the head when I wasn't looking or something. Hope your cold is warm by now. ** Esther Planas, Hi, Esther! No, I'm in Paris. Glad everything is going so well! I'll go look at your enticing sounding Xmas present immediately upon reviving. Love! ** Sweettomb, Hi, Trinie! A late, great happy Xmas! No, my dreaded birthday is still forthcoming on January 10. Love and major hugs to you, my pal! ** Pisy caca, Hi, P! Uh, we just ate buche and that chocolate Santa display thing that I posted on FB. Otherwise, not much, quiet, okay. Argentina, yes, nice! Enjoy that completely, you guys. Much love to Xet and you! ** Rewritedept, I think I saw your new tattoo on FB, no? Like a constellation of words? Me and Malky: That was a very proud moment for me, as you can imagine. Xmas was almost nothing but cake eating and nothing before or after it. Lazing around. It was good. Hope you got some awesome shit. ** Jebus, Hi! The honor was all mine and theirs too, I'm sure. You like Bee Mask? Great! Me too! He does a really nice live thing, if you ever get the chance. Ha ha, nice Xmas present. Everyone, another Xmas present, this time from the mighty Jebus: check it. Very bon day! ** Steevee, Hi, Steve! ** Heliotrope, Love you and the big J too, buddy boy! Did you put the X back into Xmas? ** Sypha, Actually, I was happy to find the reading list. Breaths of fresh air are really good in those stacks. Hope you're enjoying your second day off. Your Xmas seems to have secured you a lot of cool stuff. ** Misanthrope, Nice of you to write it, man. I had a feeling that you'd gotten really ill. I'm following in your tracks today, I think. The NYC trip was probably not a good idea, but, hey, you survived, and you even had some fun. And hopefully today you're clarifying and getting all bouncy again. Are you? Sorry for the shorty of a comment. You, having just been there, probably understand, no? ** Casey Hannan, Hi, Casey! Man, awesome to have had your work there. Counting the days until your book is born. Wow, studying with Marcel Marceau. That's interesting. It's weird: it's like he has been completely forgotten here. The French are into celebrating and lionizing every minor French famous anybody from their past, but it's like MM never happened. I'm going to find out why. Same with Maurice Chevalier, but that's because he was a Nazi sympathizer or something. The food here is good. Word. Except for their Mexican food. That sucks. ** Schlix, Hi, Uli. Glad about the quiet Xmas but not about the headache, shit. Did you get to the exhibition? Love, me. ** Oscar B, Hi, B-ster. I did see the video. I didn't believe you guys actually made it. I think it was the surprising soundtrack that threw me. But now I do. Nice. ** Cobaltfram, Hi, John. How was that 'Les Miz' movie? Tell me 'cos, at the moment, it's like the last movie in the world that I have any interest in seeing, and I would be happy to be cured of my disinterest. Yeah, I guess secret love letters can work. Give it a shot maybe. See you in hopefully a better shape (mine) tomorrow. ** Chris Goode, Chris! Maestro! Wonderful! I've got the flu or something, so I won't show my full excitement as thoroughly as I would have were I not fluish. Next year is going to rule, right? I think so too! Dude, happy to have you here as much as you can be here. Sweet deal. I'm so into being drawn by you and your work if you end up wanting to draw me and whoever else here into you/it. Exciting and mysterious and you: what a combo! I promise I'll be alert and everything the next time you visit, and, in the meantime, love is the square root of the space between you and me, whatever the hell that means, ha ha. Whoa. ** Paul Curran, Happy Xmas being over, Paul! Was your kiddo really, really happy? How about you? ** Flit, Thank you, Flit. Shake that thing! ** Creative Massacre, Hi, M! A merry, very merry Xmas to you, my friend! ** James, Hi, James. Thank you. No, it didn't snow. It was like LA weather here yesterday for some weird reason. Much love to you too! ** A white fiction resumes its punctuality, Hi! Boring prose, ugh. But a retroactive Merry Xmas to you irregardless! Hm, no, I don't think I've used Yury as a secret name in my writing, actually. He doesn't really read my books or care about my work that much, so that might be why, ha ha. ** Grant Scicluna, Hi, Grant! My great pleasure, of course! Yeah, Todd's a good writer, that's for sure. My Xmas was okay. I don't know why it decided to punish my health. I treated it with kid gloves, I thought. Great to see you, man! I think I owe you an email, and I'll get on that once I can think straight again. ** E., Hi there, e.! I hope your Xmas was a sweetie. Oh, buche-wise, we got the ... I'll show you. That's easiest. I'll put a photo or something up here somewhere tomorrow, I guess. Share the portfolio if you feel like it once it's finis. I would love to see. ** Bill, A joy to have your piece here. New is a relative term, or something? I don't know. I'm toast. I'm okay with bike messenger types, I think. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I am. I'll check it. I think I saw that it's coming here soon. You're already in transit, I think. Five hours ago ... yeah,. you should be. Heads up when you get there, please? Safe trip. Good movies on the way. ** Okay, wow, sorry about that p.s.. I'm determined to feel much better tomorrow, so we'll see how that works out. For today, you get Jon Kessler's art machines. I like 'em. Maybe you will. See you tomorrow.