Referencing issues relevant to contemporary society - including politics, war, advertising, propaganda and surveillance – Kessler's work thrusts the viewer directly into a complex visual experience. Though sources of inspiration and information are varied and include reality television such as "The Swan," kabuki, and Apocalypse Now, The Palace at 4 a.m. ultimately speaks to the history of image production and representations of warfare. The exhibition explores our society's alienation from the real (demonstrated most recently by "Over There," a new television drama chronicling the war in Iraq as it continues to rage). The intention is for the viewer to experience the piece as if she is putting her head inside a television that is in the process of being channel surfed. According to Kessler, "My aim is to create a kind of visual journalism of the past four years, where underneath this abundance of stimuli, what takes place is an investigation into how the images that occupy our realities and dreams are constructed and manipulated." Based on the dual notion of deconstruction and reconstruction, this conflict and relationship is immediately apparent in The Palace at 4 a.m.'s intricate infrastructure. Based in one large gallery with adjoining exhibition spaces around the periphery, Kessler's work is comprised of a network of kinetic sculptures, each of which incorporate surveillance cameras acting in tandem with the sculptures' movements to create video imagery occurring in real time. In the center of the main gallery - or central nerve bank - is what the artist coins a "termite mound" of imaginery. Actions and images created live in peripheral areas (as well as in the main space itself) are simultaneously displayed on monitors and screens in the central nerve. This information is constantly assembled and reassembled, resulting in scenes that appear unfamiliar, disorienting and sometimes dangerous. All of the apparatuses used for The Palace at 4 a.m. are in plain view. Thus, the wires, gears, cameras, motors, etc. constitute the body of the work itself, creating yet another dual relationship. Though Kessler demystifies the physical structure, it also serves to further mystify his manipulations; viewers must trust themselves to ponder the power of each image despite that fact that everything is visible to the eye.
JON KESSLER
born 1957 in Yonkers, New York lives and works in New York
Biography
1980 S.U.N.Y. at Purchase, New York, B.F.A. Whitney Museum Independent Study Studio Program, New York
1983-85 National Endowment for the Arts
1994 Professor an der School of the Arts, Division of Visual Arts der Columbia University
1995 St. Gaudens Memorial
1996 Guggenheim Fellowship
2001 Foundation for Performing Arts
Selected Exhibitions
2007 Jon Kessler – The Palace at 4 AM, Galerie Hans Mayer, Düsseldorf New York – States of Mind, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin Kunstmaschinen Maschinenkunst, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt in Kooperation mit Museum Tinguely, Basel (ab Januar 2008) The Blue Period, Galerie Arndt & Partner, Berlin Nothing but Pleasure, Bawag Foundation, Wien The Expanded Eye, Kunsthaus Zürich Jon Kessler – The Palace at 4 AM, Phoenix Kulturstiftung/Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg Faster! Bigger! Better! ZKM | Museum für Neue Kunst & Medienmuseum, Karlsruhe The Golden Hour Gigantic Art Space, New York, NY
2005 Lichtkunst aus Kunstlicht ZKM | Museum für Neue Kunst Jon Kessler - The Palace at 4 AM P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York Overhead/Underfoot: The Topographical Perspective in Photography, Whitney Museum of Art, New York
2004 Hermes Forum Gallery, Tokyo Deitch Projects, New York, NY
2003 The Commodification of Buddha, Bronx Museum, New York Yesterday begins tomorrow, Deste Foundation, Centre for Contemporary Art, Athen
