“I-don’t-know-what-to-say. Every-time-I-try-to-speak-carefully-I-fuck-up-and-make-a-big-mess-of-it-all. I-don’t-want-to-constantly-accuse-you-of-things, so-I’m-going-to-try-to-talk-about-myself-now, as-genuinely-as-I-possibly-can, leaving-every-window-and-all-doors-open-in-the-rain, so-to-speak. This-is-important-to-me-so-please-listen.”
Imagine those sentences being said on camera on CNN—proclaimed by Candy Crowley, Wolf Blitzer, Christiane Amanpour, Robert Novak, and more. Imagine each individual word being punched out with the determination the keys on a typewriter and flipping from reporter to anchor in every space between the words. You’re stared in the eye with sincerity and authority, dared to disagree. (If you can’t imagine it, watch a clip of it here.) That’s the premise of “CNN Concatenated,” a 15-year-old video artwork in which Israeli-American artist Omer Fast extracts news segments word by word to form an 18-minute monologue appearing to have the 24-hour Cable News Network satirically critiquing itself. "Mr. Fast’s edits first ensnare our attention, then keep us working to untangle content,” remarked a museum director about another piece to the New York Times. “The-last-few-months-have-been-difficult. I’ve-said-too-much. I’ve-done-hurtful-things. I-haven’t-said-enough. It-seems-we’ve-developed-a-taste-for-each-other’s-weaknesses,-that-we-thrive-on-consuming-each-other.” “CNN Concatenated” is arguably the loudest member of the J. Paul Getty Museum’s special exhibit Breaking News: Turning the Lens on Mass Media in Los Angeles. Its other video works come with headphones and stools to perch on while listening thoughtfully, but this one is meant to bother you. The deconstruction of the mass media in this exhibit closely examines the authority that news organizations have and the means they might take to manipulate consumers’ emotions. The pieces included in this exhibit focus largely on visual media, but choose different tactics to make their point. (The exhibit does not shed much light on the constructive influences that CNN and other outlets have had on society, by ensuring that hard news is taken apart and made digestible for viewers and that leaders know the power of the 24-hour news station's international cameras.) Seventeen covers of Newsweek magazine adorn one wall, pointing out the magazine’s focus on the O.J. Simpson ordeal and other cultural or social events while Rwandans were slaughtered in a genocide in the 1990s, in Chilean Alfredo Jaar’s Untitled (Newsweek). John Baldessari’s video The Meaning of Various Photographs to Ed Henderson (1973) showcases the guesswork and assumptions made by an acquaintance when presented with out-of-context photojournalism and asked to describe the story they might tell.
To me, one of the most honest and literal works was a side-by-side comparison of the production versus consumption of a local newscast. Americans Dara Birnbaum and Dan Graham created Local TV News Analysis (1980) provides a look into the control room of a news station and the living room of a family. While the production crew works to ensure every detail, the family takes in the news in a much more casual manner. Sometimes their discussion isn’t even related to the information on the screen. It seems as though they’re paying attention but it’s difficult to tell how much is being absorbed. It’s hard to tell how much of the news’s hard work is actually working.
For me, as someone new to the visual media world, it’s a wonder I’ve had frequently. “No-doubt, we-each-have-our-motives-for-this. We-attack, then-quickly-withdraw-and-defend. We-put-flags-on-various-hilltops-and-lay-siege-to-each-other’s-needs. We-play-hard, make-claims-and-demands, issue-orders-and-restock-our-supplies-in-the-dark. As-life-long-adversaries, we-do-this-with-enough-practice-and-caution-to-know-when-to-stop.” Nearly three months ago I joined the staff of a local TV station as an intern with several broadcast reporters. Three months is hardly enough time for a full understanding of how they work, but it’s provided an insightful glimpse into the motivations and mysteries of the TV news world. I’ve worked alongside reporters, producers, and editors who have served three years or even three decades to the station or to the general cause. Their dedication to the facts and passion for the delivery has brought most of them to the upper echelons of their career, as the L.A. market is the second largest in the nation. As someone who casually consumed the evening news when I lived in a house that actually had a television, I had no conception of how much activity took place behind the scenes. Now, with an intimate perspective of the broadcast and digital teams at a local news station, I wonder how much is lost in translation. These companies have gobs of consultants and focus groups working on that very question; they don’t necessarily need an intern to be an authority on this. To be clear, I don’t consider myself an expert—more so a person who has a peephole into this world and is stretching to climb further into it. But confronted with the artists’ interpretations of the media, the wonder returns: what kind of message are we actually sending? “But-we’re-helpless-before-our-own-instincts. We-cannot-handle-the-quiet, the-horrible-normal, the-shared-noneventfulness-that-would-give-our-relationship-the-stability-it-so-desperately-lacks. I’m-exhausted-from-trying. I-love-you. I-miss-you, even-though-we-hardly-spend-anytime-away-from-each-other. But-still-I-cannot-give-up. It’s-funny-to-say-this-but-I-feel-more-alone-in-your-company-now-than-ever-before.” The Getty Center exhibit runs through April 30. But be careful if you spend too much time there: one security guard remarked that it felt like “torture” after working twelve hours in the exhibit.
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