Jordan Wolfson’s installation consists of twenty holographic fan displays mounted on a freestanding wall and programmed to project animated characters, symbols, and text. Thematically structuring the visual display are a series of animated words that read ‘ARTISTS,’ ‘FRIENDS,’ ‘RACISTS,’ which crash down intermittently. At times Wolfson’s animations overlay different photographs and video clips, some of which appear relatively innocuous – such as scenes from the children’s TV program ‘Sesame Street’ – while others depict more overtly charged subjects, such as police cars and 9/11 firefighters. As critic Hettie Judah notes, ‘in ARTISTS FRIENDS RACISTS things are always beyond our cognitive grasp, moving just too fast for us to pass judgment.’ The sequence of visuals plays out like a choreographed dance or a musical composition, with imagery at times synchronized and at other times syncopated and incongruous.
Jordan Wolfson (born 1980 in New York) has examined the intersection of art, technology, and mass media throughout his career. Pulling intuitively from the world of advertising, the internet, and the technology industry, his work explores the ways in which imagery and information are experienced and disseminated today. Wolfson lives and works in Los Angeles.
Jordan Wolfson: Artists, Friends, Racists / Art Basel 2022 Unlimited. Basel (Switzerland), June 14, 2022.
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