Desiderata

Paul Pfeiffer reformats film and television footage, digitally editing or erasing figures, objects, and sounds. The adjustments demand a shifted and heightened attention from viewers, often highlighting secondary, overlooked details. Desiderata is staged on the set of The Price Is Right, yet the set itself is altered, the recognizable game parts multiplied to create expansive, seemingly infinite spaces. The familiar tropes of the show are also missing: no Bob Barker, no sound effects, and no prizes. By removing the core characteristics of the game show, Pfeiffer emphasizes deficiency. The work’s title, Desiderata, Latin for “desired things,” also suggests absence: to desire something necessitates a lack of that thing. The video is presented on a portable screen designed for single spectatorship. Consequently, the viewer inhabits a silent and solitary suspense that mimics the circumstances pictured on screen, and is ultimately left to contemplate their own wants.