David Hall, TV Interruptions: Installation Version (1971/2006), VR Simulation, Besides the Screen International Conference

7 monitor video installation, with sound, B/W 16mm transferred to video. Recreated in VR using HTC Vive equipment and Unity Software.

This piece, like many others of its vintage are prone to the problems of technological obsolescence. The use of CRT monitors as sculptural objects and the aesthetic of the video image cannot be readily reproduced using modern display technology. VR is one way in which this piece can be simulated and archived to allow future generations to gain access to the work.

Originally commissioned in 1971 by STV for the Edinburgh Festival, these 7 pieces were broadcast on TV at various times unannounced to an unsuspecting audience during the period of the festival. Although they were designed to interrupt people’s daily activity, they were not simply to alert or confuse they were there to make them think about how television is constructed. Each piece is quite different ‘Tap Piece’, for example, shows the image of a tap filling up the screen with water whereas ‘Interruption Piece’ shows a burning TV. The installation version was created in 2006 to allow all the pieces to be shown simultaneously, therefore interrupting each other creating a situation analogous to their first unannounced appearance amongst regular television programmes. An edition of this piece was purchased by Tate in 2014.