1994.03 or 04 Interview at TV Hospital, Berlin, Germany

1994.03 or 04 Interview at TV Hospital, Berlin, Germany

From Mere Outline 1994:

- Blau-Milch Kanal/Kaffee Sendeschluß, TV Hospital - X94: junge kunst + kultur, Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany

- March or April, 1994

- Herr Stiletto Studios initiated this incredible "Design Hospital" project as a part of the (what I consider) rather ridiculously named "X94: junge kunst + kultur" (which might be translated as: Exhibition 1994: Young Art & Culture). This exhibition was an ambitious presentation of a fairly broad array which was open to the public from March 4th to April 30th, 1994 - "50 days to blow your mind" - as the publicity material put it. The whole contextualizing of the event seems to've been done by people in their 40s or older who used slang that was fresh when they were the age that the exhibition purported to, & partially did, represent. Alas, the slang, being no longer representative of current youth culture, made the context seem more like wishful thinking on the part of the organizers to seem "youthful" themselves. Despite this, much of the exhibition was (to me) truly extraordinary - ironically (?), I tended to prefer the "work" of the older participants. I was fortunate enough to be flown to Berlin by Stiletto Studios to participate. The main other collaborators on this "TV Hospital" were Ügszel Yazmen of "It's a Bollerman's World" & Kerstin Kitsch. Other input was provided by "The international Funny Farm" (Laura Kikauka & Gordon Monahan) & the "Stressjets" (Hans Otto Richter & Kay Itting) as well as a slew of such helpful people as Mica Witt, Edi Tschiesche, Richard Millar, & many, many "apprentices". The "TV Hospital" is rather complex to describe. It was set up in one of the café areas where we'd installed 6 glass topped tables with tvs visible/audible facing upward underneath them. The tables had microphones hanging over them - partially disguised by lamp-shades. Five black & white surveillance cameras were placed at various strategic locations & a 6th color "studio" camera was also in use. All of this was fed into a "Kommunikations-Confusor" which enabled us at the "Blau-Milch-Kontroll" to scramble & channel the video signals in diverse combinations. E.g.: a camera placed over table 2 could have its signal sent to table 4 & vice-versa - with the sound coming from a previously recorded tape on table 4 & from the mike at table 6 for table 2, etc, etc.. Six VCRs & a video mixer were also used. With this latter, practical jokes using video wipes were popular. This vaudeo installation was the "Kaffee Sendeschluß". Fifteen or more hours of the day (a minimum of from 0:00 to 15:00 every day) the mix from the "Blau-Milch Kontroll" was transmitted by Picture Telephone to the Open Channel of Berlin Cable TV & sent from there to their audience. This audience was welcome to participate in person, or to phone in, 24 hours a day. The mischievous use of technology can be partially summarized by this quote from me in one of our "menus":

"Gordian (K)notworking" as both the profusion of cables & other assorted hard & soft -ware used for this configuration & the method of Sozio-Psychische Chirurgie (Socio-Psychic Surgery) used in this proving ground of Psychological Playfair. Some may be irritained, some may (k)not."

- Another time, I was asked by a woman if she could interview me. I agreed, & requested that she wait for me at table 2. I then secretly asked one of the waitresses, Birgit Krah, to help me. I held some "fake blood" (perhaps nothing more than cranberry juice) in my mouth & went to sit at the table with the interviewer. Shortly after I sat down, while the person was in the midst of explaining her purpose, Birgit came over & pretended to strangle me to death - during which I spat out the "blood". Then Birgit explained calmly that she could continue the interview in my stead. I lay there with my head on the table, "dead", until they were finished talking - at which point Birgit dragged me away. This was also videoed for later mixing use.

- on my onesownthoughts YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/ZbowQf50eEg

- on the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/fake-murder-table-2

- recollections from tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE