Male Magnetism curated by Andrew Norman Wilson

“Attraction and repulsion within a magnetic field allow videotape to record and play back our media, orienting particles into patterns that correspond to documented sounds and images. In the series Male Magnetism, men use videotape to stage, document, and reframe attractions that, despite their repellent qualities, they can’t seem to look away from. Some sift through the American dumpster fire so obsessively that their pattern-seeking disconnects from reason, and trash becomes sublime treasure. Others turn their cameras on themselves to confess the profane within. Most do both, to polarizing effects. Spanning documentary, mockumentary, found footage, video diary, video art, and home video, these men use VHS, Hi-8, BetaSP, miniDV, and 1/2-Inch Open Reel Tape to capture murder, mailbox baseball, peer-pressured puking, ‘fury and caged lust,’ biting the head off a chicken, and the will to ‘roll up in a Bugatti doin’ a bukkake on Benghazi playin’ Yahtzee with Trotsky.’ Real or fake, there’s a truthiness to these tapes.” —Series curator Andrew Norman Wilson