The
fucking news. And what do you think they say to you when you ask what
is the most valuable minute in TV broadcasting? The minute when everybody
is watching and sucking? In the beginning they are all reluctant. Everyone
from our public TV channels is so suspicious even to speak about it.
Why should anybody beside us know it? What could anybody need it for?
How could anybody misuse it? Very funny when you find out that all of
them pay the same agency to make the research. The man in the agency
answers friendly: after seven thirty p.m… The
installation addresses the captivation of our gaze within media-saturated
environments. It is sited within a small apse-like space located directly
above the oldest chapel in the monastic complex. Mark
Shepard
1931
(we need the time)
three
channel video installation
Center for Metamedia
Plasy, Czech Republic
1999
The house of Mrs. Kornatovsky is in Plasy. She can catch only three
channels there. She‘s in the valley. Friday night.
The waves are in the air. Just imagine to receive them all at once!
What do you think they broadcast in that minute? News, News, Euronews.......
But it could be even worse.
Martin Zet
14 November 1999
Through an arched entry door, the viewer encounters a single television
monitor displaying a screen of static within an arched window opening.
A cacaphony of sound reverberates within the space of the chamber beyond.
Upon entering, one is confronted by two additional monitors placed within
the remaining arched window openings. These monitors each display prime-time
television news feed from the three major czech broadcast networks,
superimposed upon each other digitally.
Within the space of the room, one is immersed in an ocean of mediated
time where multiple voices, images of world leaders and glimpses of
foreign lands coverge into a swirling mass of profanity within the once
sacred space of the monastic retreat.
14 November 1999
