Oliver Ressler takes photos and makes documentary films, video-art and installations, seeking to record and document examples of social, political and environmental resistance. He is not tied to a specific location: his work is characterised precisely by his having travelled though different countries on several continents with no limits or frontiers. He seeks to raise the profile of struggles and public protests, generally against decisions by institutions, governments, states, corporations and holdings that prioritise their financial interests over territorial and environmental concerns and peaceful coexistence. His intention is to enable protests to be heard and to act as a mediator between social conflict and the goals pursued.
He gives his projects straightforward titles, sometimes taken directly from political theory, such as Property is Theft and The Economy is wounded – Let it die!, both from 2016. Occupy, Resist, Produce (2014-2018) covered the occupation of public squares and its outcome in terms of specific policies, most of which failed. Ressler undeniably gives a voice to the people involved: he himself remains in the background. This is in line with the issues that he investigates: he knows that he is not an expert in every conflict that exists. The title of the series How Is the Air Up There? (2018), to which these five photos belong, contains a double meaning: on the one hand it refers to protecting the environment; on the other it is a sort of wake-up call for the authorities who planned to cut down part of a centuries-old forest to build highways.
Oliver Ressler takes photos and makes documentary films, video-art and installations, seeking to record and document examples of social, political and environmental resistance. He is not tied to a specific location: his work is characterised precisely by his having travelled though different countries on several continents with no limits or frontiers. He seeks to raise the profile of struggles and public protests, generally against decisions by institutions, governments, states, corporations and holdings that prioritise their financial interests over territorial and environmental concerns and peaceful coexistence. His intention is to enable protests to be heard and to act as a mediator between social conflict and the goals pursued.
He gives his projects straightforward titles, sometimes taken directly from political theory, such as Property is Theft and The Economy is wounded – Let it die!, both from 2016. Occupy, Resist, Produce (2014-2018) covered the occupation of public squares and its outcome in terms of specific policies, most of which failed. Ressler undeniably gives a voice to the people involved: he himself remains in the background. This is in line with the issues that he investigates: he knows that he is not an expert in every conflict that exists. The title of the series How Is the Air Up There? (2018), to which these five photos belong, contains a double meaning: on the one hand it refers to protecting the environment; on the other it is a sort of wake-up call for the authorities who planned to cut down part of a centuries-old forest to build highways.