Things have been a bit slow over the last few weeks as I’ve been tied up with marking (end of year) and organising the Snd:arc- event with Paul Adams. Now that summer is approaching I’m managing to get some time to push my research forward through a paper I’ve written (more about that at a later date) and some works I will be finalising soon.

In tune with my absence and a reference for the work I was busy making for Snd:arc- I thought I would start back with Daniel Sauter’s work, We interrupt your regularly scheduled program… (image above, video below - the video below is a SMIL video if you can’t see it try it on Daniel Sauters website here) which has inspired me to think about broadcast networks and how they can be used as source material for other net works in performances or installations.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program… is an installation which explores the nature of television:

with its numerous channels, its ubiquity and its perpetual flow.

The installation consists of:

A television is placed facing the wall, its flickering glow reflecting off the wall and its sound echoing in the space. Its broadcast signal is simultaneously sent to a computer, where customized software processes the broadcast in real time by collapsing every frame of the television image into a one pixel-wide slice. These slices are horizontally arranged in sequence and projected back onto the wall next to the television set, showing an abstracted history of the broadcast signal.

Cinematic cuts are transformed into clear vertical sections. Zooms become visualized as curves. Commercials and music videos are seen as vibrant vertical patterns and hectic splashes of color, while News programs are calming studies of horizontal smears.

Visitors are encouraged to switch channels with the remote control and explore the relationship between the broadcast, its sound and the projection.

In disconnecting the sound with the expected visuals and replacing it with an abstracted projection, the work oscillates the visitor�s focus. Where the sound emitting from the television points to its sometimes triviality, the projection exposes the seductive nature of its images. This juxtaposition reveals the nature of television, at once both mesmerizing and banal.

Below are screen captures from the software used in the installation.