REPORTS, 2003
Video installation, 10' 15", 3 monitors, sound
In this series of news reports, Bruno Cook, a television journalist, and his camera team provide news coverage from UBEIKA (a fictitious country). All the reports were compiled from found footage. The material is closely associated with contemporary political crises. It is comprised of video images of truck or car convoys – as well as herds of sheep – crossing barren, grass-covered plains. The artist has added artificial static to the images: lines of interference move across the screen, and distorted off-camera voices are heard.
"Thank God the communication lines are back up ... we had problems again with the optic fibers ... there are no air strikes any more." The reports have no clearly-defined subject. From the sentence fragments, we can infer that an imminent threat exists, and that strange deals are possibly being made. We also get a glimpse of everyday life in the journalism business, which thrives on covering horrifying events. The reporter becomes increasingly alarmed. In the end he declares that he is "on both sides of the front."
Introduction, text by Sibylle Omlin
Credits
Thanks to: Chantal Bermond, Gaby Billing & Galerie Billing Bild, Carola Bürgi, Jennifer Cassels-Scupham, Keiwan Fakhr-Soltani, Anita Holdener, Mizuki Imai, Marie-Eve Knoerle & Piano Nobile, Hartwig Meyer, Esteban Pages, Pierre-Philippe Freymond, Tearanel Te, Catherine Tissot