The following is a brief preview - the full content of this page is available to premium users only.
Click here to subscribe...
Applause was a multi-screen video installation by Sydney-based media artist, Frank Osvath. It comprised twelve monitors and four VCR machines accommodated by a steel architectural structure. Each screen displayed the same sequence of computer processed video images in the form of animation. It was played as an endless loop, which was temporarily interrupted by another cycle that recontextualised the initial animation. Digitally sampled sound effects accompanied the moving imagery to underline the visual content.
The steel structure and the large scale 'high tech' apparatus, were custom-engineered to fit the small exhibition room that, in itself, determined its own oppressive spatial net in harmony with the installation. Of the two units, the zinc plated steel structure held the monitors and the second component, facing its counterpart, was packed with VCR machines. These two elements-the 'operated' and the 'operative' or 'directive'-were inter-connected with video leads protected in flexible steel tubes and firmly fixed onto the floor in parallel lines. The physical enclosure was painted white in an attempt to evoke a floating sensation, fusing minimalist asseveration and totalitarian grandeur.
All video screens were synchronised in an 'out-of-sync' effect. A luminous flickering charged the exhibition space with mesmerizing pulsations and was the only source of illumination. It was emitted from the individual monitors under the control of the reiterative computer animation running perpetually in its endless loop. This repetitious 'mechanical animation' forced time to be measured in units, yet paradoxically one became oblivious of its passing. Although Applause was seemingly enmeshed in a totalitarian folie de grandeur, in fact it allowed no room for such naïveté. For Goebbels "art ... [was] a function of the life of the people, to which