UMMA Projects: Oliver Van Den Berg May 27, 2010

Berlin-based sculptor Oliver van den Berg produces objects based on such technical equipment as flight recorders, planetarium projectors, and--most recently--enormous banks of microphones or television cameras. Instantly recognizable, van den Berg's works derive their uncanny presence from the fact that they are made entirely of wood. Standing in direct opposition to the material and function of their models, van den Berg's carved replicas question the past century's faith in technology in the utopian pursuit of "progress." In his most recent installations, the proliferation of nonfunctional recording devices makes a decidedly low-tech comment on our contemporary society of surveillance by transforming the exhibition space into a sort of absurd press conference, as oversized as it is dysfunctional.