Blackout – how closely does television affect me 1974/75

@ Richard Kriesche

in this media live action the artist asked himself and all those involved the question: how closely does television affect me? what does the communication medium of television make of reality? – what reality does “television” develop from “non-vision”?

during the recording of the programme the artist wore a black blindfold. The non-vision excluded the artist – he spoke into a space that was imaginary for him. at the same time, however, it was also his intention to confront the television audience with his situation of “no longer seeing”. to see nothing other than a black screen on the air on television. on this electronic media level – according to kriesche – the recipient and producer, artist and public would find themselves in the same state of reality. on the black screen the producer’s reality would be transformed into the recipients’ reality. due to the elimination of the distance from the visual image, the visible retreated into electronic space [note: this was not achieved, since the cameraman did not or could not comply with the artist’s instructions to come up so close to him that only the black blindfold would be visible.]