Foucault's Oz S'poring
by Lutz Presser and Guy La Pointe
Source: Press release 2001
In this project, members of the public unwittingly trigger electronic mechanisms
by moving around the given space. The sensors respond firstly with animal
noises, such as barking or croaking, and secondly, by activating a series of
short films, which are automatically displayed on the large television monitors.
The content of the movies is absurd and out of place in the given situation. The
movie excerpts have been gleaned from longer films produced some years ago
highlighting Australia's projected public self to the world. The edited images
haven been "mined" from the film archives of the Australian High Commission.
The project is supported by Australian High Commission (Singapore) and
anticipates another one scheduled to open later this year. Foucault's Oz
S'poring explores human behaviour in public spaces. They also play with the
notion of surveillance and the sudden realisation that one is being observed,
without necessarily knowing who is watching and why.
Lutz Presser is an artist/educator/writer who has taught in art schools at
university level for over 25 years. Simultaneously he has made art and exhibited
in Australia, Europe and Singapore, been included in Australian national surveys
and has been awarded grants and overseas studios. He is presently engaged in
works dealing with human behaviour, cultural displacement and "acculturation".
He is also engaged in research leading to a book on fetishism in the work of Man
Ray, Andy Warhol and Robert Mapplethorpe.
Guy Lapointe is a Canadian artist has lived and worked in Singapore for the last
few years. His work has been shown regionally as well as in Europe and North
America, and his most recent practice is essentially focused on the use of
videography in the context of performance and installations. He presently
lectures at the National Institute of Education.