PROJECT 08 | Channel Zero, vol. 1: Aggravision | Interactive Video Installation, 2004
Exhibited at the Beall Center for Art + Technology during the Arts Computation Engineering program's 2004 open lab / exhibition Hybrid Vigor
Channel Zero is best described as a multimodal media mashup mixing milieu. It is both an interactive media installation and an audio/video (re)production system suitable for VJ performances. As the system evolves, it is released in Volumes or collections. Volume 1: Aggravision culls the majority of its content from a video database collection harvested from worldwide peer-to-peer filesharing networks, where the most salient and sensational clips inevitably rise to the top of the download queue. Selected exerpts from regional media broadcasts are also included in an attempt to ground the collection in the American domestic entertainment vernacular. Through Channel Zero's joystick, steering wheel, and pedal interface, the participant is invited to mix, explore, and sometimes avoid material that ranges from the simply inane to the nauseatingly macabre. No matter what the individual subject or effect, the images in the collection ultimately blend to represent a small cross section of the tastes, trends, and fixations that drive these unregulated and decentralized media networks, juxtaposed against the aforementioned vernacular.
It is hoped that the overall result of this first installment will present a jarring, unsettling, cacophonous media mess, delivering a full-bore assault on the senses and sensibilities of those who would attempt to behold and/or navigate its depths. Users should anticipate severe symptoms of disorientation, disaffectation, and desensitization to a wide range of culturally (in)sensitive audio-visual material. The installation may or may not be appropriate for children or adults of any age.
View the Instruction Manual (PDF, ~1mb)
