Stephen Douglass

The word and the image, as structures of mass media and communication, make claims to represent our world. Grounded on the belief that there is a boundary between object and subject, 'representationalism' positions us outside of our world. We need to assert instead that subject and object do not preexist, but emerge as entities through intra-action from entangled states.

In response I am building a war system. Rejection Engines are deployed to reactivate entangled states against representational identity. Siege Devices are positioned to smash holes in the wall we call reality, built on words and images. Hammer's smash holes and sharp tools tear at choice, affirming the cut of decision that seeks alternatives.

Paradoxically, this task deploys the word and the image to fight fire with fire. Mannequins are tarred, feathered and photographed. The results are equally judged. Video loops and text pieces are also brought together through inclusive disjunction. This entangled zone gathers the work to 'strike the event'. That event is an infinite multiplicity of contradictory possibilities, that may reconcile, but are open to transformations.

These war systems interrogate the obsolete currency of communication, asserting instead the bare act of 'truth telling' while refusing to communicate truth.