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Press Release 22 July 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TONY OURSLER, MARY HEILMANN, SABINA STREETER AND TODD EBERLE NOW ON VIEW AT THE CLOCKTOWER

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(July 22, 2009 — New York, NY) AIR, Art International Radio is proud to present works and site-specific installations by artists Todd Eberle, Mary Heilmann, Tony Oursler and Sabina Streeter. The exhibitions will be on view at the Clocktower and open to the public Thursdays from 12:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., or by appointment with the AIR staff.

Tony Oursler returns to his well-known "talking lights" medium with Five Take Radius, a new piece created for AIR’s long entrance corridor. In this work, Oursler has lined the corridor’s ceiling with eleven 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.

In Two Lane Blacktop, Mary Heilmann brings her trademark wit to the Clocktower by painting white lines down its slim, black floor, effectively turning the corridor into a passageway of a different sort: a displaced highway. Beneath Oursler’s disorienting lights, Heilmann offers the viewer order, as if, through her clearly demarcated lines which lead to AIR’s pristine Performance Gallery, to prevent logjam or encourage traversal.

In an alcove on the way to AIR’s bell tower, Sabina Streeter has created an installation entitled Where Eagles Dare. Combining images of propaganda with raw industrial materials such as transformed light fixtures by artist Maximilian Eicke, Streeter’s seductive environment references the early usage of radio and technology toward propagandistic ends. The room features a charcoal drawing by Streeter called Der Ängstliche Adler, which portrays a gargoyle-like "frightened eagle" in reference to the Gothic exterior of the Clocktower roof. The thrust of Streeter’s installation evokes the terrible power that technologies of mass communication may offer.

Todd Eberle’s Hi-Fi series of photographs, which depict mid-century audio equipment and advertisements, provides a fitting introduction to the current incarnation of the Clocktower space as home to AIR. The images frame their subjects in disembodied close-ups that render them at once purely aesthetic and acutely reminiscent of a generalized transmission source; the photographs are works of both recreation and representation, echoing AIR’s mission as a venue for art and information.

This is the first series of art installations at the Clocktower space since it became the home of AIR, Art International Radio in January 2009. The legendary Clocktower Gallery was founded by AIR Director Alanna Heiss in 1972 and became renowned for its alternative exhibitions, performances and artist studio program. AIR is happy to now open its historic spaces to the public, and is immensely proud to have these artists launch this first of its many future exhibitions. Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe, Vito Acconci and Jon Kessler are among the artists solicited to create works for the AIR spaces, and Carol Greene has been invited to curate the first performance evening. As it continues to foster a place on the radio for discussion of the arts, AIR remains committed to giving artists and curators a venue to present the fruit of their curiosity and experimentation to a wider audience.

For more information, or to set up an appointment to visit the Clocktower, contact AIR at 212.233.1096 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 January 2010 )