David Hall - gallery 2

The five 'gallery' pages show a small selection of work from the last forty years. Most of the quotes are extracted from texts listed in the bibliography page.

Interruption piece and Tap piece from TV Interruptions (7 TV Pieces)
Commissioned as part of the Scottish Arts Council's Locations Edinburgh event, 1971

'Conceived and made specifically for broadcast, these were transmitted by Scottish TV during the Edinburgh Festival. The idea of inserting them as interruptions to regular programmes was crucial and a major influence on their content. That they appeared unannounced, with no titles, was essential.. These transmissions were a surprise, a mystery. No explanations, no excuses. Reactions were various. I viewed one piece in an old gents' club. The TV was permanently on but the occupants were oblivious to it, reading newspapers or dozing. When the TV began to fill with water newspapers dropped, the dozing stopped. When the piece finished normal activity was resumed. When announcing to shop assistants and engineers in a local TV shop that another was about to appear they welcomed me in. When it finished I was obliged to leave by the back door. I took these as positive reactions...' DH, 19:4:90 Television Interventions cat., Third Eye Centre Glasgow and Ikon Gallery Birmingham, Fields and Frames 1990.

101 TV Sets, installation 1972-1975
First shown as 60 TV Sets at the exhibition A Survey of the Avant-Garde in Britain, Gallery House, London 1972, and as 101 TV Sets at The Video Show, Serpentine Gallery, London 1975 (both made in collaboration with Tony Sinden)

'Although no video is directly involved (the TV sets are tuned or mis-tuned to broadcast signals, and all parameters of picture quality variously utilised) this is an important precursor of British multi-channel video installation work...' Chronology, Diverse Practices: A Critical Reader on British Video Art 1996.

Progressive Recession, video installation 1974
First shown at The Video Show, Serpentine Gallery, London 1975

A live interactive installation (using no recording equipment) which, as the participant moves through, progressively separates and distances his/her image from its origin.

'Many early installations were devised as a complex analogical mirror where the viewer, interacting with his/her image as collaborator rather than spectator, was simultaneously the viewed in a process of 'self-referring consciousness'. It is quite evident here that artists were intent on exploring relationships of hitherto unapproachable psychological innovation and response, where the formal, physical (and technological) framework was essentially the site of the experience...' DH, Early Video Art: A Look at a Controversial History, Diverse Practices: A Critical Reader on British Video Art 1996.


		The five 'gallery' pages show a small selection of work from the last forty years. Most of the quotes are extracted from texts listed in the bibliography page. Interruption piece and Tap piece from TV Interruptions (7 TV Pieces) Commissioned as part of the Scottish Arts Council's Locations Edinburgh event, 1971 'Conceived and made specifically for broadcast, these were transmitted by Scottish TV during the Edinburgh Festival. The idea of inserting them as interruptions to regular programmes was crucial and a major influence on their content. That they appeared unannounced, with no titles, was essential.. These transmissions were a surprise, a mystery. No explanations, no excuses. Reactions were various. I viewed one piece in an old gents' club. The TV was permanently on but the occupants were oblivious to it, reading newspapers or dozing. When the TV began to fill with water newspapers dropped, the dozing stopped. When the piece finished normal activity was resumed. When announcing to shop assistants and engineers in a local TV shop that another was about to appear they welcomed me in. When it finished I was obliged to leave by the back door. I took these as positive reactions...' DH, 19:4:90 Television Interventions cat., Third Eye Centre Glasgow and Ikon Gallery Birmingham, Fields and Frames 1990. 101 TV Sets, installation 1972-1975 First shown as 60 TV Sets at the exhibition A Survey of the Avant-Garde in Britain, Gallery House, London 1972, and as 101 TV Sets at The Video Show, Serpentine Gallery, London 1975 (both made in collaboration with Tony Sinden) 'Although no video is directly involved (the TV sets are tuned or mis-tuned to broadcast signals, and all parameters of picture quality variously utilised) this is an important precursor of British multi-channel video installation work...' Chronology, Diverse Practices: A Critical Reader on British Video Art 1996. Progressive Recession, video installation 1974 First shown at The Video Show, Serpentine Gallery, London 1975 A live interactive installation (using no recording equipment) which, as the participant moves through, progressively separates and distances his/her image from its origin. 'Many early installations were devised as a complex analogical mirror where the viewer, interacting with his/her image as collaborator rather than spectator, was simultaneously the viewed in a process of 'self-referring consciousness'. It is quite evident here that artists were intent on exploring relationships of hitherto unapproachable psychological innovation and response, where the formal, physical (and technological) framework was essentially the site of the experience...' DH, Early Video Art: A Look at a Controversial History, Diverse Practices: A Critical Reader on British Video Art 1996.



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