Douglas Gordon
Douglas Gordon (°1966) is a video artist and photographer, who also does performances, actions and makes installations. Gordon creates art with a strong foothold in life: he makes no distinction between ‘the outside world’ and the ‘art world’. The message is key and the medium changes according to it. The place is also adapted to fit the message; after all, the context determines if the receiver is able to understand the message. This is why he doesn’t just create pieces for museums, but also carries out his projects in cafes, on buses or via the post or internet.
Gordon is intrigued by how individuals handle familiar images in an entirely unique and personal way. He explores how memory, imagination and images from the world around us all interrelate. He adapts and manipulates fragments of memories in his art works. This allows him to show his own version of the visual material stored in his subconscious. Gordon starts from original images, but disconnects their seemingly familiarity by showing them in extreme slow motion or through unexpected reversals or duplications. Each viewer in turn responds in their own, personal way to the works. This variation is what fascinates the artist. He prefers to describes his works as ‘democratic’, rather than ‘ambiguous’. The viewer decides what he does with his experience.