By lauren on
Last week I attended the Metroplex Archivists' meetup held at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. It's always interesting to hear what other information professionals in the area are working on. The best part is getting a behind-the-scenes tour at the hosting institution. I admit I hadn't been to the Amon Carter since I started at the Kimbell, so I was looking forward to the visit.
By Author on
The assassination of President Kennedy and the media coverage surrounding it was the catalyst in instituting the 24-hour news broadcast. The recent acquisition of the KRLD broadcast camera and the digitization of the news footage present the perfect opportunity to tell this story in the context of the technological climate that made it possible. I am always interested in the intersection between art, technology, and history. In 1963, television broadcast cameras like the KRLD one used state of the art imaging technology that made shooting in dark indoor locations like hallways and basements possible. Video tape, which had only been around for about a decade, allowed for the highest definition recording ever seen. In the past decade, nearly half of all American homes now had a television. All of the pieces were in place to push broadcast media into a new era. Alongside technology so grows art, and the 1960s saw the beginning of video installation art by artists like Bruce Nauman and Nam June Paik. Their use of cathode ray tube television sets in gallery spaces inspired the exhibition design of the new footage videos. Considering that the footage would have been originally viewed on small tube sets in family rooms, the exhibition uses tube televisions in fabricated period housing to evoke viewing experience. The relatively small screens, placed on platforms in a large space, aim to create a sense of displacement, reminiscent of what viewers likely felt watching the live television show images. The modern viewer will never have the same visceral experience of watching the assassination coverage as it aired. Much of the footage is of restless reporters in tight hallways, waiting for any morsel of news. There is an anxiety and discomfort about the footage, and something that I believe can be communicated in how we display it. Allow viewers to stand and watch for as long as they’d like, or move through the space from screen to screen. The footage should be shown unedited, rather than a “best of” or highlight compilation. It’s okay to feel restless. It’s a way we can begin to identify with how viewers felt the weekend of November 22.
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