My work focuses on the effects of power and surveillance, and the divisions created in society, the effects on mind, body and psyche of people. I manipulate, mould and shape materials into forms that mediate anxiety, tension, and abuse as a way to open a discussion which keep us from experiencing a centre in our lives.
Power is not a top down application of direct coercion, but is used in ways that makes the human self-regulate. I investigate the techniques and mechanisms of power that use these approaches, and begin a deep examination of the relationship to the body, the individual. “Power knowledge" is the symbiotic relationship between power and knowledge that allows the powerful to classify and control people and things, intimidating them into self—regulation, perpetual confusion and conformity.
My work draws attention to the environment in which it is installed, and plays with space and architecture, provoking a dialogue between myself, power, and nature. If technology reveals, and power controls, the human is constantly engaged in reclaiming power by revealing themselves through technology.
Libido is a work that looks at the constraints of power and what it means to be “human. Observing, is an invaluable part of my practice, and supports my ability to read the semiotics of performances in the media, fake news, politicians, and their actions.
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Information has become our imagination or image-nation, and by exciting our imaginations, the powerful gain more power.
Libido is a fetishised society, that is excited by oppression, control, domination, and the excessive desire to be punished.
I reflect on my experience with the environment, politics, and the behavioural pattern of people, and constantly engage with the external world developing my responses to defining moments that drive an internal process which becomes the work.
Recently, I have observed the state of panic over the new coronavirus pandemic on a daily basis, witnessing the anxiety, frustration and confusion. Life seems to be on hold, and people have withdrawn further into themselves without realising it. In this moment, when humanity is at its weakest, some continue to exert power and take advantage of this disaster to regulate people's behaviour through authority, technology, and the expansion of surveillance.
Antony Wilder lives and works in London