Video Killed the Soccer Star

Paul Pfeiffer is the master of the head fake. He creates video installations that juke spectators right out of their shoes. The award-winning New York-based artist’s provocative works explore the role mass media plays in shaping consciousness. He uses game footage of professional boxing, basketball, and hockey and digitally removes...

By Carlos Suarez De Jesus

October 8, 2009

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Paul Pfeiffer is the master of the head fake. He creates video installations that juke spectators right out of their shoes. The award-winning New York-based artist’s provocative works explore the role mass media plays in shaping consciousness. He uses game footage of professional boxing, basketball, and hockey and digitally removes the bodies of the players, deftly shifting focus onto the cheering crowds as a meditation on the cult of celebrity. In one of his videos, professional hockey’s famed Stanley Cup floats mysteriously during a championship celebration. In another, Pfeiffer knocks both Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier out of the ring, thus showcasing the rabid fight fans. This Saturday at 7, you can catch Pfeiffer’s legerdemain in “The Machine in the Ghost,” a collection of six videos at World Class Boxing that delivers a rabbit punch to the senses. The opening is free, and the exhibit runs through October 30.
Oct. 10-30, 7 p.m., 2009

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