Tony Oursler, Fantasmino, 2017 Acrylic resin on canvas and digital hardware with moving image 46.99 x 21.59 x 17.78 cm Collection of Tony Oursler Image Courtesy of Tony Oursler Photo by Andrea Guermani
Ghosts seem to be everywhere, and hundreds of millions of people all over the world believe in them. They serve as metaphors for the return of what reason cannot fully repress, and even in an age of technological omniscience, existential blind spots remain that no science can resolve—chief among them, the great unknown that is death.
In a scenography intended to help open the senses to atmospheric changes and liminal experiences, the exhibition features 160 works and objects created during the past 250 years. With spirit photography as a central theme of the show, it highlights the rich visual culture associated with ghosts that took shape in the Western hemisphere in the nineteenth century—when science, spiritualism, and popular media began to intersect in new ways, inspiring art and artists ever since.
Given the close connection between ghosts and states of psychological distress, the exhibition also takes a close interest in hauntings—when ghosts inhabit spaces—focusing on artists who drew inspiration from the resulting diverse visual traces and ghostly narratives.
