Born in 1966, Paul Pfeiffer uses a variety of mediums, such as photography, video installation, and sculpture to explore through the lens of mass- media how sports and popular culture are imbued with worship, devotion, and rituals akin to those of religion.
Pfeiffer appropriates footage from sports events, television shows, or films, and he digitally manipulates and edits some excerpts to create familiar but uncanny clips. His works expose the artifice that surrounds the collective experience—from the architectural setting to the music or the soundtrack—, its power to evoke a wide range of emotions, and the issue of the commodification of the athletes and pop idols’ bodies, worshipped as if they were religious icons. The twist in some of Pfeiffer’s artworks also relies on remotely and individually experiencing images through a screen or a special visual display, and how this level of engagement differs from the collective experience in real life.

Paul Pfeiffer
The Long Count (Rumble in the Jungle), 2001
Standard-definition video (color, silent; 2 min., 51 sec.),
painted 5.6-inch LCD monitor, and metal armature
15.2 x 17.8 x 91.4 cm
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of David Teiger
© Paul Pfeiffer. Courtesy the artist; Paula Cooper Gallery, New York;
carlier | gebauer, Berlin/Madrid; Perrotin; and Thomas Dane Gallery, London
Photo: Luke A. Walker