URS FISCHER Denominator

This collective human experiment—public relations, marketing, advertising, whatever—leads to a complete replacement of any images we have inside us.
—Urs Fischer

Gagosian is pleased to announce a special exhibition by Urs Fischer featuring his sculpture Denominator (2020–22). The work will be installed at 433 North Camden Drive, opposite the gallery in Beverly Hills. Viewing hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 5:30pm.

Denominator takes the form of a 12-foot cube that displays a sequence of fragments from international television commercials in a shifting composition that spans the history of the medium from 1950 to today. Through the use of AI algorithms, the commercials have been deconstructed into individual shots, which are then grouped by theme or color and displayed in layered patterns and choreographed sequences. The result is a mesmeric demonstration of broadcast advertising’s capacity to penetrate human consciousness.

Along with other recent works of Fischer’s such as the digital sculpture CHAOƧ #501, Denominator forms part of an encyclopedic composition telling the story of humanity through the artifacts it leaves behind. Displayed on its own in Beverly Hills, the work assumes an iconic resonance, its multiple sources—from broadcast television to social media—constituting a dynamic archive of the visual models to which we now continually refer.