Paul Pfeiffer on the Spectacle of Politics
Paul Pfeiffer, whose practice interrogates media spectacle and collective affect through video intervention and sculptural work, discusses how contemporary mass gatherings—particularly stadiums—function as replacement sites for geopolitical negotiation. Beginning in the early 1990s, Pfeiffer extracted and isolated figures from sports footage, rendering uncanny the machinery of fame and bodily exhibition in late capitalism. His oeuvre spans digital video installation, drawing, and carved wood sculpture, often invoking art-historical precedent: Bacon’s crucifixion iconography, classical caryatids, and religious imagery repurposed through celebrity (evidenced in woodcarvings depicting pop figures as martyred saints). His current Perrotin Los Angeles exhibition presents sculptural maquettes and monumental stadium designs alongside these devotional-inflected works. The interview explores how stadiums operate as symbolic and material theaters for soft power politics, mediating both visible spectacle and invisible production, with particular attention to how bodies—athletes, delegates, masses—register dissent or submission within these constructed architectures.
Original article published on Hyperallergic — AI-generated summary. Visit the website to read the full article at the source. Image via Hyperallergic.
