Thaw, 2001

In the early 1990s, Doug Aitken began to use moving images to question traditional ways of enjoying art. Driven by the awareness of how the contemporary era is increasingly shaped by the effects of technological mediation and an unprecedented approach to the moving image, the Californian artist constantly searches for a new aesthetic experience capable of stimulating the viewer’s attention and physical involvement. In his works with video – which often encroach on installation, photography and even performative events – the attempt is always to overcome the viewing process conventionally enclosed within the limits of the cinema screen, going beyond it through the use of multi-channel projections running both inside and outside the exhibition space. [...]