Power and Ritual
Is our world a telly?
Rituals from the world of television
Television, our "window to the world", in the beginning symbol for the departure into a new, better age, has, on an intercultural level, performed a "copernican turn-around". Almost authentic display of complex facts hardly ever takes place. Medial reality developed its own laws, expressed in a flood of pictures topped with bits of information.
Vintage gelatin silver prints, 24x30cm, 40x60cm up to 80x120cm, sig., stamp., notes, 1996, 2004
Television: I see that I see nothing!
A telegene processing makes the many bitter pills of world happening enjoyable for us. Smiling to the beat of the red camera light, smart host are passing the "hard facts" over to us. However, the professional smilers are also only drops in the big cloud of the TV industry nebulating our world. The standard call "Stay tuned – we're counting on you!", made just before every little break, indeed only means that they are counting on us – in terms of rating, of course.
And so the circle closes, as we consumers become the product being dealt to the advertising business. The consequence: Total refusal? Switch off? Since TV makes everything possible: Let's beam a truly wise person, just like ancient VIP Socrates, in front of our 21th century screen. Maybe he would relax in his armchair, curiously zapping all programs and eventually draw the conclusion: "I see that I see nothing!"
Written by Verena Hopp
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