Empire of Desire
a multi-screen installation by Ted Ciesielski
March 28 - May 2, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, March 28, 6PM - 8PM
Artist talk: Thursday, April 16, 6PM

The phallic cliché of the Empire State Building returns as a modern-day totem privileging women through its projections. A woman's body becomes a pliable and supple surface for viewing not so much the classic nude but images of the Empire State Building that conceal her. Ciesielski creates an elusive metaphor of power that weds steel and brick to flesh, resolving the public and private spheres in a manner closer to pornography than art and rendering such distinctions senseless by the brute force of the imaging. Think Abu Ghraib.

For Ciesielski the "installation is a visual bridge between sexuality and architecture in New York City: Multi-screen, multi-color, multi-woman, and one desire. It is the result of many years of seduction from both sides."

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Tadeusz "Ted" Ciesielski is a filmmaker from Poland, where he studied at the famed Lodz Film Academy. During the eighties, he directed music videos for KULT, SIEKIERA, and Cityzen GC. In the nineties, he travelled with a film camera throughout Europe and China, eventually settling in New York City. His obsession with urban landscapes results in highly personal and interpretive projects about the Twin Towers, the Empire State Building, billboards, oil tanks and refuse. Some titles are: Requiem 2001, My Empire, Last Letter, and My Gates.