Tony Oursler

The magic, enchantment and poetry of the universe: these are the themes at the heart of Star*(life), Tony Oursler’s Luce d’Artista installation. The work is rooted in the artist’s childhood memories, in listening to the radio broadcast of the first Moon landing in 1969, and in the popular imagery surrounding space exploration. How important has this fascination been to the development of humankind? How many artists have drawn inspiration from it? How many scientists took their first steps towards their careers driven by a sense of wonder at deep space? We are all more than mere observers of the universe: we are made, quite literally, of the same stuff as the stars. And the quest to discover the ultimate boundaries of space has always also been a journey of discovery within ourselves, into our own souls. Star*(life) travels through the imagination, looking towards the present and the future, in a city that is able to stand at the forefront of technological research and progress. The installation was created in close collaboration with the Politecnico University of Turin, with which a series of activities will also be developed as part of Accademia della Luce, Luci d’Artista’s public programme, alongside further collaborations in the field of space research. The artist’s dreamlike and grotesque characters, projected on a monumental scale, populate the façades of the Politecnico’s buildings. With a touch of irony, they move through galaxies and planets, subverting conventional notions of space and time. Tony Oursler is one of the pioneers of immersive video projection, often conceived for environmental and architectural settings or applied to sculptural and three-dimensional elements. Over the years, he has collaborated with some of the world’s leading architects, from Rem Koolhaas to Herzog & de Meuron, on the creation of permanent installations. He has also worked with major stars such as David Bowie and Sonic Youth, and exhibited his work at Documenta 8, 9 and X, as well as at museums including the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), the Fondation Cartier (Paris) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London). Star*(life) is the American artist’s first public artwork in Italy.

Star*(life) was realised with the support of Politecnico di Torino

Antonio Grulli, curator of Luci d'Artista