From December 6th, 2004, to January 14th, 2005 the BWA Gallery of Bydgoszcz will present the exhibition of Harald Scherz – ONE WAY (video installation). ONE WAY – One direction. One way road. One lane. Forward. In one direction. One. One. – Life.
Harald Scherz – born in 1978 in Salzburg. In 2003 he got his degree in political sciences, international relations and ethnology at the University of Vienna (his dissertation subject: “Image of the enemy in the Hollywood movies after Cold War „). Since 1999 he has been studying Conceptual Art at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, under guidance of prof. Renee Green and prof. Marina Grzinic. His fields of artistic interest are photography, film and video. Scherz works concern macro-economy, political and social dependencies, virtual and real communication, as well as contemporary reality and the nearest future.
“The video installation ONE WAY projects a part of a system. It creates itself a prior non existing space, within which the participating characters (individuals) are able to act/react. The created space provides the participants with a grid, a system, a structure within characters are allowed to move freely. The categorized structure makes the characters react and therefore move according to their range of choice. How much choice and especially how major are the choice possibilities, is defined by the structure itself and not necessarily by the individual, although a single individual perception might confront him or her with a variety of choice possibilities. Every decision, which predefined way to go, is a definitive and absolute decision. Careless of the number or intensity, decisions do manifest one way within the structure. By acting and reacting within such a system, patterns and categories can be applied, which lead to the development of more precise system user profiles, by tracking and recording individual actions. By keeping individuals apart from each other, physically or mentally, competitive structures can be implemented. By personally accepting the form of competition as the leading solution for society problems, the common goal is replaced by the very personal, individual victory over competitors. Leading into a competitive structure of individual against individual, confirming the actual physical or mental separation of individuals within the system even more. The structure of ONE WAY itself is compiled through a random process. Patterns, categories and individual slots can be changed and modified like any other systems elements. ONE WAY can be considered as a projection rather than a solution” (Harald Scherz).

2004.12.06 – 2005.01.14