TELE-Genic

The television set was undoubtedly one of the most important inventions of the 20th century. Its victorious march into European and North American living rooms is indisputable. Throughout the world, television has produced its own visual aesthetics and new structures of communication. Originally developed with a single channel – the “Channel to the World” - TV has now become an interactive, viral medium in which the passive viewers of the past are now assuming the role of active participants.
The exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Bonn examined how television has influenced art. It presented the artistic strategies used to appropriate and process “television” as a theme, and highlighted the specific language and images of television in video, film, painting, sculpture, performance, as well as its references to literature and music. The exhibition, for which some of the works have been specially developed, featured leading artists in the field, such as Nam June Paik and Vostell, along with those of the younger generation like Thomas Demand, Tobias Rehberger, Ulrich Polster and Melanie Gilligan. Exhibition spaces were dedicated to the analysis, parody and subversion of TV formats: the emotional abyss of talk shows, the danger of addiction to TV-series and the flood of information on news channels.
An international conference provided the exhibition with significant depth. The participants explored the cultural, political and economic aspects which play an integral role in the tense relationship between art and TV. The project has published a corresponding book to ensure that the content of the exhibition and conference is accessible in the long term.

Artistic directors: Dieter Daniels, Stephan Berg
Curatorial assistance and project coordination: Sarah Waldschmitt

Artists: Auerbach, Tauba (US), Baumgartner, Christiane, Biel, Joe (US), Bulloch, Angela (CDN), John Cage (US), César (FR), Yvon Chabrowski, Mel Chin & The GALA Committee (US), Bruce Conner (US), Thomas Demand, Simon Denny (NZ), Draeger, Christoph (CH/USA) / Reynolds, Reynold (D/USA), Harun Farocki (CZ), François, Michel (F), Karl Gerstner (CH), Gilligan, Melanie, Groebel, Mathias, Lee Friedlander (US), Karl Otto Götz, Caroline Hake, Vania Heymann (IL), Denis Hopper (US), Hurtig, Stephan, Isidore Isou (RO), Christian Jankowski, Kuball, Mischa, Fabio Mauri (IT), M + M, Bjǿrn Melhus (NO), Meyer, Bea, Nam June Paik (KP), Polster, Ulrich, Tobias Rehberger, Edgar Reitz, Sakrowski, Robert, Christoph Schlingensief, Rosefeldt, Julian, Paul Thek (US), Günther Uecker, Van Gogh TV, Angel Vergara (ES), Wolf Vostell, Andy Warhol (US), Lawrence Weiner (US), Tom Wesselman (US), Joseph Zehrer.

Additional Venues:

19 February - 16 May 2016, Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz