DANIEL BIRNBAUM

American video and installation artist Doug Aitken exploded on the international art scene with his multi-screen work `electric earth`, which captivated audiences at the Venice and Whitney Biennales. This work focused on the bizarre nocturnal experiences of a young man exploring the edges of Los Angeles, presenting dream-like sequences which rearrange the linear flow of narrative into a series of unforgettable, disjointed photographic tableaux. Like much of his work, it contrasts the high-tech speed of contemporary daily life with the monotony of the urban landscape. In subsequent work set in distant places, from the island of Montserrat to the jungles of Guyana, Aitken creates unexpected yet beautiful imagery which encircles the viewer and creates a suspended, hyper-real portrait of contemporary life. In the Survey, curator and critic Daniel Birnbaum sets Aitken’s art within the context of contemporary philosophy and the work of other recent artists who have explored expanded notions of time and space, in the Interview frieze publisher and critic Amanda Sharp discusses the artist’s working methods, in the Focus section critic Jörg Heiser looks at Aitken’s recent `i am in you`, a five-screen work centering on the imaginative experiences of a young girl. For his Artist’s Choice Aitken has selected a short story by Jorge Luis Borges whose description of altered realities through the distortions of mirrors and memory echoes the artist’s own interests. Artist’s Writings include Aitken’s retelling of an unusual story he once heard from strangers which served as the basis for subsequent video work.