Pep Talk
1999

Pep Talk consists of four columns, each crowned by a hemispherical dome into which various video scenarios are projected, displaying groups of people cheering and hollering. The projection technique—where a fish-eye lens is used to project a spherical image from the columns below—turns the moving images inside out. It enables visitors to study each unit as if from a central position within the group.

There are four categories of people in the videos: workers, a rescue team, a choir, and a team of surgeons. Each troop manifests their collective belonging by shouting group-specific palaver or chants. Social bonding here appears as if distilled in a test tube, and the ritual aspect of our interpersonal relations is revealed in its full, ambiguous scope. Belonging to a tight-knit group can, of course, be a source of strength and comfort, but on the flip side, there is always the peril of losing one’s individuality or creating an environment hostile to others.

 

"Pep Talk," 1999
Four-channel video installation; acrylic back-projection hemispheres, video projectors, DVD players, wooden plinths, 135 x 40 x 40 cm
"Pap Talk," 1999
Film still from "Pep Talk." Choir
Film still from "Pep Talk." Rescue Party
Film still from "Pep Talk." Workers
Film still from "Pep Talk." Surgery team
Installation view, “Peptalk” exhibition, Galleri Axel Mörner, Stockholm, 1999
Installation view, “Peptalk” exhibition, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin, 2000

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