The Glasgow School of Art

Oliver Ressler
'An Ideal Society Creates Itself' listen to audio recording

Oliver Ressler talks about some of his theme specific exhibitions, projects in public space, and videos on issues of migration, economics, forms of resistance and social alternatives.

Since 1995 Oliver Ressler has been working on several important projects which engage with art, politics, and activism, including "Alternative Economics, Alternative Societies", an itinerant and ongoing show presented in twenty-one different exhibition spaces (so far), from Madrid's Centro Cultural Conde Duque to the Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center in Istanbul. His work presents alternative ways of thinking social organisations, from Zapatista self-government to Ralf Burnicki's 'Anarchist Consensual Democracy'.

"Ressler is one of the new generation of artists operating in the 'grey area' that exists between art and politics who develop projects on a variety of social themes using different media. But what particularly distinguishes Ressler's work compared to others and has led to his international renown is the role of policy activist he assumes through his documentary and social inquiries, through the production of slogans and publicising campaigns that serve many and various types of political agitation and social conflict, and finally through conferences, publications, counter-information campaigns and exhibitions that gather together the results of his investigations." - Marc Scotini