Oliver Payne's work takes that which we recognize as common knowledge within a world context, flattens it, and boldly shifts the angle to present us with a new vision. In the two-artist exhibition with Keiichi Tanaami at project space Studiolo in Zürich last November, he exhibited collages composed of a barrage of stickers designed after the Japanese video game DonPachi pasted onto images of Greek sculptures torn from the pages of an old art book. These collages express how symbolic violence in Japanese video games overwhelms and dominates icons that serve as the symbolic identity of Western civilization. In another interpretation, these pieces suggest that the standardized authority on art is, in truth, born from blind faith.
This exhibition will feature a new installation based on the theme of "camp". Since ancient times, we have built camps as a means to rest during the night while on a journey. We built fire to keep wild beasts away, took warmth from that fire, and cooked using that fire, actions which have become acts of leisure, and which also represent the breadth of human innovation. The camp built by Payne is, in a word, hardcore. An intimidating black tent covered in countless needles to prevent anyone from coming near; a concrete video game console; a canvas with climbing holds pasted onto it; all bizarrely presenting the boundary between "game brain" virtual reality-like thinking and our daily lives.
8 minute walk from exit 5 at Meiji-jingumae Station on the Chiyoda and Fukutoshin lines, 10 minute walk from the Takeshita exit of Harajuku Station on the JR Yamanote line.
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