This Is a Breaking News Story!
August 30, 2015artist contribution,
This short video by Charlie Dance is a playful performance that reflects on our insatiable desire for spectacular images. What if suddenly there were no images? This work is part of the Open! Co-Op Academy project “did you feel it?”, which focuses on affect, public images and digital technology.
What do you hope for when you check the news on your phone, or when you switch the TV on in the evening? What new news do you expect to see? Do you long to see that big red and white “Breaking News” banner stretching across the screen, the one that declares that somewhere, just now (right now), there is a large, important and often catastrophic event occurring? An event big enough for us all to need to know about it, but so new, so fresh that no images have yet arrived from the scene. There are no images. For now all you have is this big red and white Breaking News banner. But maybe this is enough? Maybe that’s all you need to be affected. That longing, that thirst, has been sated. You’ve got your fix, your bit of drama, of intensity, of action. And all without an image? But there is an image, there is this big, red and white Breaking News to smother you, to hold you, to make your pulse race, the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, your breath shorten. But then it’s over. The news is broken, the big red and white banner is replaced by an image, an image suitable to show you. Nothing too graphic. Nothing too shocking. Your pulse returns to normal, your hairs lie back down, your breath regulates once more. The image you craved is gone. As far as you’re concerned, there are no images.
Charlie Dance (1986, UK) is a visual artist and writer living and working in Warsaw, Poland. He graduated from his BA from Glasgow School of Art in 2010 and his Masters of Fine Arts from the Dutch Art Institute in July 2015. His practice revolves around the status of art, artists and the role of the image and truth. His recent projects include a video work, The Difficulty of Thinking About Things in a Straight Line, and the thesis A Bird In the Hand… for more: www.cargocollective.com.
