TV Timer, 1973

series of video tapes, with Sanja Ivekovic

The video consists of 15 one minute sequences shot around the city of Graz and in the gallery. All pieces deal with the notion of time, not just an abstract idea but as an unquestionable particle of a space/time universe. They are mesurable and precise because they show particular fragments of the day. On the other hand they expose the manipulation of time through the use of the same medium which is supposed to guarantee their objectivity. The openness of the manipulation shown in the video pieces thus uncovers the appearance of television as a source of ?objective information?. In the installation the screening of these videos was controlled by an electronic timer-device which triggered the playback of each piece, as an intervention in a daily broadcast of TV station (ORF) at the time which corresponds exactly with the time stated in them.The period covered with the interventions was ?TV prime time? ( from 18h30 to 20h00).