April 21, 2005
Participation TV
TV as Interactive Canvas
"In 1963, «Participation TV I» (by Nam June Paik) passed the qualifying rounds at the «Exposition of Music—Electronic Television» exhibition in Wuppertal [where, in the case of a few devices, acoustic signals already determined the television image]. [«Participation TV I»] concerns a purely acoustic-oriented type of «Participation TV,» with an integrated microphone. The later version serves a television showing in the middle of its screen a colored bundle of lines which explosively spread out to form bizarre-looking line formations the moment someone speaks into the microphone or produces any other type of sound. Depending on the sound’s inherent quality or volume, the signals are intensified by a sound-frequency amplifier to produce an endless variety of line formations which never seem to repeat themselves or be in any way predictable." (Source: Edith Decker, Paik Video, Cologne, 1988, p. 64) [from Medien Kunst Netz; see related texts]
Posted by jo at April 21, 2005 10:52 AM
