Press Release: Paul Pfeiffer

New Works: 03.1
03.13.03

March 13 ?y 11, 2003

Brian Fridge Fort Worth, Texas

Paul Pfeiffer New York, New York

Susan Philipsz Belfast, Northern Ireland

Selected by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev

About the Artist

Paul Pfeiffer's audience feels a familiarity, a synchronicity with his work?know the
players, we know the hooks?see ourselves. The artist's references to contemporary
culture remind us that in our obsession with and our knowledge of technology we are
complicit in a media takeover, whether we cherish or condemn it. In previous
works?The Long Count, a three-part video installation based on footage of
Mohammed Ali, and Race Riot, a video sculpture incorporating excerpts from the
Chicago Bulls victory during the 1996 NBA Championship?iffer has tapped into the
undercurrents of pop culture that are shaped and propounded by the digital images that
make up the visual vocabulary of American life today.

Paul Pfeiffer was born in Honolulu, HI. He received his BFA from San Francisco Art
Institute, CA and his MFA from Hunter College, New York, NY. Pfeiffer was awarded an
MIT List Visual Arts Center Residency in 2001-2002 and was the first recipient of the
prestigious Bucksbaum Award from the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York,
NY in 2000. Pfeiffer's work has been seen in solo exhibitions the Barbican Art Center,
London, England Kunst-Werke, Berlin, Germany; The Project, Los Angeles, CA; and
UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA. Recent group exhibitions include Out of
Place: Contemporary Art and the Architectural Uncanny, Museum of Contemporary
Art, Chicago, IL; Graz 2003, Austria; 100 Artists See God, Independent
Curators International; and The Moderns, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy. The artist
lives and works in New York, NY.

About the Project

Paul Pfeiffer's video works utilize digital manipulations to capture and
decontextualize mass media spectacles, implicating the viewer in all of us. Pfeiffer's
editing emphasizes particular movements to imbue the figures' actions with layered
meanings?llience turns to rage and celebration into attack. Referencing French
philosopher, Guy Debord's 1967 treatise The Society of the Spectacle,
Pfeiffer's work compels the viewer to question whether media is "other" to community or
if, as individuals, we are complicit in its success.

Pfeiffer continues his investigation of the spectacle of the media with three new video
works. Pfeiffer alters and represents images from a pop music video, a beauty pageant,
and a professional basketball game. Through the generous support of the San Antonio
Spurs, Pfeiffer was granted access to the SBC Center where he filmed not only the
players but the support staff. The resulting video isolates an armed security guard thus
inverting one's gaze from the event itself to the peripheral action.

Exhibition Dates

March 13 ?y 11, 2003

Opening Reception

Thursday, March 13, 2003, 6:30-8:30 PM

Artists' Dialogue

Friday, March 14, 6:30-8:00 PM

Featuring Brian Fridge, Paul Pfeiffer, and Susan Philipsz. Moderated by Carolyn
Christov-Bakargiev, Chief Curator, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy.

Brown Bag Lunch

Wednesday, April 9, 2003, 12:00-1:00 PM

Join us for a tour of New Works: 03.1 and a brown bag lunch provided by Pecan
Street Deli. Please call ArtPace to make reservations.

Event Locations

All events held at ArtPace, 445 N. Main Avenue. Free parking at Flores Street and
Savings. ArtPace is open to the public Wednesday thru Sunday, 12-5 PM, Thursday until
8 PM and by appointment. There is no charge for admission.

445 North Main Avenue San Antonio TX 78205 t 210 212 4900 f 210 212 4990 www.artpace.org