Heads are video-projected onto effigies, puddles and glass globes, showing and sometimes screaming messages that explore the mass effects of technology, media and other forces in Tony Oursler’s art. His creations are characterized by a rough use of technology in approaching variations to the idea of introjection.

During the next few months, the Des Moines Art Center is showcasing the work of Oursler, a multi-media artist who pioneered work in video projection.

The exhibition, a 20-year retrospective of Oursler’s work, is titled “Introjection: Tony Oursler Mid-Career Survey 1976-1999.” The show is a nationally traveling exhibition organized by the Williams College Museum of Art in Williamstown, Mass.

“Literally meaning ‘to throw within,’ introjection is a psychological term for the unconscious absorption of another individual’s personal qualities,” Deborah Rothschild, curator of exhibitions for Williams College Museum of Art, writes in the Gallery Guide for the exhibition.

Oursler’s works bring together sculpture, video and performance art to explore topics such as environmental and biological pollution, modern-day neurosis and psychosis and psychological maladies.

The exhibition is “rough and ready,” says Jeff Fleming, senior curator for the Des Moines Art Center. “It’s not pristine.”

The VCRs and small LCR projectors Oursler uses to project moving images on dummies and other objects are out in plain view, Fleming explains.

One of Oursler’s main focuses is on how television and film invade today’s thinking.

“TV and film have entered into our psyche,” Fleming says.

Single-channel tapes were the beginning of Oursler’s fascination with the power of television. Oursler, along with friends and some hired actors, often appears in these videos which portray extreme psychological states.

A collection of these single-channel videos is available for viewing in the Art Center’s reading room, Fleming says.

Another idea Oursler explores is the correlation between multiple personality disorders and television.

During the time period of movies such as “Three Faces of Eve,” when there were few channels on television, three or four personalities were common for people who suffered from multiple personality disorders. Now, as the ability to get more and more channels increases, a number ranging closer to 50 personalities is more common, Fleming says.

“It’s a fascinating idea that is wide open for conversation and dialogue,” Fleming says.

The exhibition is fascinating on many levels and something that needs to be experienced in person, Fleming says.

“It is one of those experiential items,” he explains. “All your senses are bombarded.”

In conjunction with the Oursler show, the Art Center invites Iowa video artists and filmmakers to enter a contest.

“It’s something we’re advertising in the University setting. It’s a very youth-oriented project,” says Mike Crall, director of marketing and public relations for the Des Moines Art Center.

Works of all kinds will be accepted including narrative, documentary, art and experimental, animation and works-in-progress.

Winners will be selected based on originality, production value, editing, cinematography, scripting, directing, acting and audio quality.

Two first prize awards of $250 will go to winners of the adult and under 18 categories, and a $500 prize will be awarded to the Best of Competition.

The submission deadline for the film and video competition is Dec. 26. Winning entries will be screened during a reception at the Art Center on Jan. 14 at 1 p.m.

For entry conditions and an application form, contact Jill Pihlaja at (515)271-0317.

“Introjection: Tony Oursler Mid-career Survey 1976-1999” runs through Jan. 21 at the Des Moines Art Center. Admission is free. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., every Thursday and the first Friday of each month 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays noon to 4 p.m.