The Poetics Project (1977–1997) examines the conventions of the documentary video by focusing on The Poetics, a collaborative rock band of artists that included Mike Kelley and Tony Oursler from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, until the band’s dissolution in 1983. The video material used in the installation spans a wide range of themes and employs various visual styles, creating a fragmented “rockumentary” of The Poetics scene. The materials include direct interviews with “talking heads” (partly actual documentary footage and partly scripted scenes written by Kelley and performed by an actor); footage of various locations in Southern California (some altered to mimic the aesthetic of late 1960s and early 1970s video art); pseudo-rock performances in an early 1980s style; the funeral of former Poetics member Bill Stobaugh; and documentation of the production process of the CD box set The Poetics: Remixes of Recordings from 1977–1983.
The Poetics Project (1977–1997) examines the conventions of the documentary video by focusing on The Poetics, a collaborative rock band of artists that included Mike Kelley and Tony Oursler from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, until the band’s dissolution in 1983. The video material used in the installation spans a wide range of themes and employs various visual styles, creating a fragmented “rockumentary” of The Poetics scene. The materials include direct interviews with “talking heads” (partly actual documentary footage and partly scripted scenes written by Kelley and performed by an actor); footage of various locations in Southern California (some altered to mimic the aesthetic of late 1960s and early 1970s video art); pseudo-rock performances in an early 1980s style; the funeral of former Poetics member Bill Stobaugh; and documentation of the production process of the CD box set The Poetics: Remixes of Recordings from 1977–1983.