Matt O'dell: Numbers Station Beacon/Community Broadcast Tower (2008)
Matt O'dell: Amphitheater/Rally Ground/Meditative Arena (Detail of 1 of 3 parts) 2007
12.3 x 51 x 51 cm — Wood, modelling details, black tourmaline crystal, fabric banner
The artist and Schleicher+Lange, Paris
Photo: Marc Domage
Matt O'dell: New Worship (2007)
Wood, speakers, audio soundtrack, Mini amplifier, wooden supports, modelling details
Towers 92.5 x 58 x 58 cm each; supports 171 x 42 x 42 cm each
The artist and Schleicher+Lange, Paris
Photo: Marc Domage
Matt O'dell: ‘Industrial Society and Its Future’, Unabomber’s Cabin, Montana, 1996 (2006)
36 x 34 x 26.5 cm — Wood, wood stain, metal, modelling details, Video and soundtrack
Pilar Corrias and Adam Prideaux, London
Photo: Marc Domage
Matt O'dell: World Trade Center, New York, September 11th, 2001 (2005)
60 x 230 x 200 cm — Cardboard — The artist and Schleicher+Lange, Paris
Matt O'dell (UK)
Numbers Station
Beacon/Community Broadcast Tower, 2008
Numbers Station, Beacon/Community Broadcast Tower, 2008 reminds us of a time like the cold war era, when conspiracy theories about the other side were part of everyday life. Today there is not an easily identifiable enemy to watch out for, we are told, and through the media we are led to believe that the opposition can just as easily be our neighbour as much as someone farther away. O’dell uses the power given to him as an invited artist to occupy public space with an auditive monument placed in front of the old town hall of Skien. Numbers Station, Beacon/Community Broadcast Tower 2008 broadcasts a series of numbers read out loud for eight minutes, every fortieth minute, recorded from short wave radio signals. So even though the enemy is said to be everyone and no-one at the same time, there are still coded messages broadcasted by a nondescript sender.
About Matt O'dell
Matt O'dell’s maquettes of disasters and presentations of conspiracy theories are poetic and completely still. Even though some of his works have sound, they come across as silent. He takes one step back and explores events that through media become world events in meticulous and time consuming constructions .
Matt was born 1976 in Bedford, England and lives and works in London, England. His career started with participating in the New Contemporaries in 2002, and has since regularly exhibited his works in solo and group shows. In 2007 he had his second solo show at galerie schleicher+lange, Paris, France and was part of the Transmediale exhibition Conspire… and the group show dark matter at artnews projects, Berlin, Germany.