Unnecessary Signage #10 - Limited Edition of 50 Print

Don Ritter is a Canadian artist and writer who has been active in the field of media art since 1988. His interdisciplinary artworks and writings integrate fine art and digital media with aesthetics and ethics. Ritter’s immersive video-sound installations enable audiences to direct their experiences through body motion or voice, and his live performances and media façades present ultra high-definition video projections controlled by live music or sound. His most recent work includes large architectural projections based on the symbolism of substances and metal prints resembling road signs that convey issues of morality, sustainability and ontology. Ritter has lived in Berlin, Boston, Edmonton, Hong Kong, New York City, Seoul, Toronto, and currently in Montreal where he works as an independent artist. http://aesthetic-machinery.com "Ritter's play with his viewers' phobias recalls the anxiety-provoking tendencies of Surrealism." Dottie Indyke, ARTnews, NYC, US "The shock of waking up suddenly from amnesia is painful, which explains, perhaps, the psychological dislocation of perception provoked by Ritter’s art. An artistic counter-strategy of psychological dislocation for the body numbed by the invisible blows of technology." Arthur Kroker, The Will to Technology and the Culture of Nihilism: Heidegger, Nietzsche & Marx “To enter an installation by artist Don Ritter is to become an active participant in a technological emulation of a tangible and somewhat familiar experience. Ritter’s installation places the audience in the active position of accomplice, making it as much a part of the medium as the technological supports that make the installation work.” Laura Heon, Director, SITE Santa Fe “Don Ritter’s interactive installations are concerned with human behaviour. Ritter acts like a researcher demonstrating his ideas through experiments. But the viewer cannot step back and watch others behave, s/he is directly involved in the situation being created. The meaning of the work is conveyed through the viewer’s immediate personal experience.” Lilet Breddels, Archis "His imagery incorporates old love of surrealism on the one hand and fascination with several generations of technology on the other hand, highlighted by flashes of humor and spiced by emanations of angst." Otto Piene, artist, Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology