onesownthoughts's video: TV Hospital: Talkathon - April 3 1994E V

"TV Hospital: Talkathon - April 3, 1994E.V.": In early 1994 I was flown to Berlin, Germany, by Herr Stiletto Studios to help build & run a complex media project whose various components had various names. One component was a cable TV program that was on the Open Channel a minimum of 15 hours a day, the time otherwise unused. We set up a studio, the Blaumilchkontrol (Blue Milk Control - a reference to a novel) & an installation in the Akademie der Kunst (West) as part of a large exhibit called "X94: junge kunst + kultur", an exhibit meant to showcase the work of young artists. For the 1st 2 weeks after I arrived I worked 100 hours a week building the technical framework for the piece, mainly in conjunction with Axel Jagemann. After that, the TV Hospital program was transmitted to the cable TV station using ISDN, picture telephone lines — at that point a very primitive & low resolution medium — & then sent out to the audience. The footage presented here was originally preserved on PAL VHS, copied to another PAL VHS, & then rendered as NTSC VHS. Despite the resultant poor resolution, it's still higher quality than what the viewing audience saw. After introducing the concept of a "Talkathon" on air on March 26, 1994, I gave a demonstration of it on April 1st. The idea was that people would convene around the TV Hospital's couch & would talk continuously without more than 20 second long breaks for up the 15 hours. There would be a referee, a role fulfilled here by Kirsten Kitsch, to observe the contestants & make sure they didn't pause for more than the allotted 20 seconds. The contestants could talk in any language &/or babble nonsensically - they didn't have to be trying to communicate with each other or with anyone else but they were welcome to be comprehensible if so desired. The (v)audience was welcome to call in & speak with them. In the introduction & the demonstration promotion of the Talkathon I encouraged people to participate. When the time came, only one person arrived to be a contestant, a man named "Peer". That made the originator of the Talkathon, myself, have to be a contestant or there wouldn't've been a contest at all. As I recall, Peer had expected something more interactive & was a bit annoyed with the babbling element. Nonetheless, he cooperated & stuck to it for 3 hours. After that, the TV Hospital crew left & I was on my own. I kept going for another 5 hours. One of the things that amazes me about this in retrospect is that I drank beer continuously without becoming visibly drunk, without slurring my words or becoming inarticulate. I wasn't on drugs. Note that I'm wearing a t-shirt with an image of Ulrike Meinhoff on it. Unfortunately, when the overall TV Hospital project ended & I had to pick tapes to copy from it to take back to the US for my aRCHIVE I didn't have the money or wherewithal to copy or transport all the tapes so I had to select highlights. My selection didn't include the middle 4.5 hours of the Talkathon. Hence, what's presented here are the 1st 2 hours, with Peer, & the last 2 hours, when I'm alone in the control booth. The last shot includes an insert of the top of the stairs by which I'm shown exiting. In some sense, the 'devil-may-care' attitude of the TV Hospital is exemplified for me by this event. The chaotic playfullness & long periods of minimal activity were intrinsic to trying to keep programming running for 15 hours a day. I'm grateful to Herr Stiletto Studios for including me in this meticulously conceived project. - February 12, 2021E.V. notes from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE