The Blind Date project is about five confrontations of five pairs of artists. During a short period prior to the World Wide Video Festival they react to each other's work and thinking. This will result in five combined presentations.
Tommy Ollson's videos and performances look like incantations. Ritual acts mixed with pop culture symbolism are used to expose the obsessions and repressed fantasies people carry with them. Still, it is mostly Olsson's own obsessions which he forces upon his audience. One could compare him with a virus: always looking for ways to spread his disease. The performance 'Spirit in the Sky' (1996) centred around an HIV test , the result of which he would learn only two hours before. If he tested positive, he would sing Madonna's 'Like a Prayer'. If he tested negative he would sing the Elvis Presley classic 'Spirit in the Sky'. The title of the performance indicates the result was fortunate. An exalted Olsson sang the song over the PA system which was cranked to the max until it finally broke down, much to the relief of the audience. After this he became slightly paranoid and for a year he was afraid to visit Amsterdam, where this performance had taken place. To deal with this negative energy, he did another performance in Amsterdam in 1997, where a walkway of glowing coal and the burning of a wig symbolized his victory. The audience was confronted with its own sensationalism. After having raised the tension to a maximum, the performance didn't last longer than a few seconds. This total self-centredness, often in combination with sadomasochistic and ecstatic debauchery, lends a heavy psychological burden to the work.
Olsson's blind date is Dutch artist Maria Pask.
– Nathalie Zonnenberg
|
Production: W139, World Wide Video Festival
Tommy Olsson ° 1963, Lindesberg (Sweden)
Lives and works in Oslo (Norway)
|
|
1 9 9 8 
