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Exhibition Tour: Josh Kline: Freedom


Josh Kline, Freedom, 2015 (installation view, New Museum, New York). Installation, various media. Image courtesy of 47 Canal, New York. Photo: Joerg Lohse.

Josh Kline: Freedom
22 August – 18 October 2015
Modern Art Oxford (originally New Museum, New York)

A dystopian environment is produced at Modern Art Oxford in Freedom, the first solo exhibition in the UK by American artist Josh Kline (b. 1979).

At the centre of Freedom is a major installation from which the exhibition takes its title. Four towering ‘Police Teletubbies’ dressed in SWAT gear guard a space modelled after Zuccotti Park, the privately owned public space in New York City and site of the Occupy Wall Street protest camp in 2011.

In Hope and Change, US President Barack Obama, played by an actor augmented with facial substitution software, delivers a provocative new version of the President’s 2009 inaugural speech.

In this darkly compelling new exhibition, Kline highlights the erosion of privacy and civil rights in the 21st century.

Freedom is the first in a cycle of projects planned by Kline that will explore the political and economic landscape of the future.


Josh Kline, Freedom, 2015 (installation view, New Museum, New York). Installation, various media. Image courtesy of 47 Canal, New York. Photo: Joerg Lohse.


Josh Kline, Freedom, 2015 (installation view, New Museum, New York). Installation, various media. Image courtesy of 47 Canal, New York. Photo: Joerg Lohse.


Josh Kline, Respect, 2015 (installation view, New Museum, New York). LED screen, media player, non-edition HD video, altered mannequin, plastic helmet, cotton, leather, nylon, cast resin, paint, steel, foam, and aluminum dimensions variable. Image courtesy of 47 Canal, New York. Photo: Joerg Lohse.


Josh Kline, Po-Po, 2015 (detail). LED screen, media player, non-edition HD video, altered mannequin, plastic helmet,cotton, leather, nylon, cast resin, paint, steel, foam, and aluminum; dimensions variable. Image courtesy of 47 Canal, New York. Photo: Joerg Lohse.


Josh Kline, Po-Po, 2015 (detail). LED screen, media player, non-edition HD video, altered mannequin, plastic helmet,cotton, leather, nylon, cast resin, paint, steel, foam, and aluminum; dimensions variable. Image courtesy of 47 Canal, New York. Photo: Joerg Lohse.


Josh Kline, Po-Po, 2015 (detail). LED screen, media player, non-edition HD video, altered mannequin, plastic helmet,cotton, leather, nylon, cast resin, paint, steel, foam, and aluminum; dimensions variable. Image courtesy of 47 Canal, New York. Photo: Joerg Lohse.


Josh Kline, Some Trees Breathe in Despair, 2015 (detail). ABS plastic, paint, aluminum, vinyl, and foam. Image courtesy of 47 Canal, New York. Photo: Joerg Lohse.


Josh Kline, Hope and Change, 2015 (installation view, New Museum, New York). HD video, sound, color, 17:10 min. Lightbox Display: Plexiglas, LEDs and power supply, flat- screen TV, media player, and wood. Image courtesy of 47 Canal, New York. Photo: Joerg Lohse.