Van Gogh TV

Background

Van Gogh TV was a collective of German and Austrian artists and hackers who started a pirate television channel in Germany in 1986. At that time, the channel would broadcast performance art on and off inconsistently. In 1990, preparation for the group's biggest project began, and in 1992, the group created "Piazza Virtuale", which has been called the very first live TV broadcast that allowed for direct viewer interaction, which was achieved using terminals, phones, computer modems and Minitels. For example, the viewers could control a "robot camera" using telephone dial-tones. Piazza Virtuale was broadcast for 100 days during Documenta IX and was intended to connect continental Europe for that duration of time, allowing viewers from each country to have input.

1st Logo (1988)

Visuals: An image of Vincent Van Gogh in black over a blue background with a logo of "European Television Year 1988" on his forehead, with the text "VAN GOGH TV KANAL 22 ÖSNABRUECK" in white flashes pink for a moment before we see the logo of "European Television Year 1988" over a grey background.

Technique: Computer graphics.

Audio: None.

Availability: Seen at the start of their broadcast before

2nd Logo (1992)

Visuals: A black and white image of Vincent Van Gogh's head with television antennas and satelite dishes attached emerges from a green blob in the centre of the screen, surrounded by pink and blue blobs.

Technique: 2D compute animation.

Audio:

Availability: Used throughout the "Piazza Virtuale" broadcast in 1992.