Five Take Radius, 2009

In Five Take Radius, Tony Oursler returns to his well-known “talking lights” medium. In this work, Oursler has lined the Clocktower Gallery corridor’s ceiling with oversized filament light bulbs that brighten and dim as recordings of the artist’s flawlessly enunciated, discarnate voice emanate from speakers overhead. Oursler’s flickering, talking lights are both confounding and captivating. The natural desire for comprehension lends reason to chance and happenstance: when the voices and the lights seem to interact in a sensible chorus, meaning may be culled from the chaos.