New Scream: ghostly art at Tate

Spectral voices and images relating to the birth of cinema, television, the telephone and the internet will haunt the winter landscape around Tate Modern.

The Influence Machine, dubbed a “large-scale multi-media séance” is by American artist Tony Oursler, who recently made the video for David Bowie’s surprise release Where Are We Now?

Inspired by the history of communications technology, the immersive outdoor installation is made in the spirit of an 18th-century Phantasmagoria. It will be shown tonight and for the next few evenings.

The work is also inspired by the “visions” Oursler experienced as a child. He would often see fleeting images of human faces, or parts of faces, on walls. He still occasionally experiences these visions. “That’s what made me really fascinated with the way the mind works,” he said. “I’m interested in ontology. I’m interested in the nature of reality and how subjective that can be.”

Oursler originally produced The Influence Machine in collaboration with Artangel, the commissioning agency which works with artists to realise projects in highly unusual settings.

The atmospheric sound and video work was first shown in Soho Square 10 years ago. Images were projected onto trees, walls and the night sky and were accompanied by a spooky soundscape. Artangel donated it to Tate in 2011, along with other works by the 55-year-old New York artist.

Oursler formed art rock band The Poetics back in the Seventies with LA artist Mike Kelley, who committed suicide last year. He hopes to release a new album, the last by The Poestics, on which Kelley features.

Of the Bowie video, Oursler said the singer knew exactly what he wanted. “I was even taken aback at how distorted he looked at some points,” Oursler said. “But David wanted that look. He wanted to convey that sense of vulnerability, that fragility.”

The Influence Machine will be projected outside Tate Modern tonight, tomorrow and on February 18 and 19.