The Collapse of PAL by Rosa Menkman

The Collapse of PAL by Rosa Menkman

Date: 
03.02.2011 18:30
Edition: 
2011
Format: 
Performance
Location: 
HKW
Hall
Rosa Menkman_Collapse of PAL_Angel of History
Rosa Menkman_Collapse of PAL_Angel of History

In this audiovisual performance Rosa Menkman reflects on the PAL signal and its supposed end. Although PAL is now obsolete and outdated, it still lives on indirectly in newer technologies like the DVB signal. The Collapse of PAL is an homage to the typical artefacts of the analogue signal, which Rosa Menkman captured using feedback, image bending techniques, a broken digital camera, digital compression, video bending devices and a game console. The soundtrack is crafted using the sounds of a Cracklebox, an old Casio keyboard, European telephone signals, Morse code etc.

In the audiovisual performance The Collapse of PAL Rosa Menkman reflects on the PAL signal and its termination. This death sentence, although executed in silence, was a brutally violent act that left PAL disregarded and obsolete. 
However, the artist has to conclude that while it might be argued that the PAL signal is dead, it still exists as a trace left upon the new, 'better' digital technologies. PAL can, even though the technology is terminated, be found here as a historical form that newer technologies build upon, inherit or have appropriated from. Besides this, the Angel also realizes that the new DVB signal that has been chosen over PAL is different, but at the same time also inherently flawed. 

The video footage is based on the analogue PAL video signal, compressions, glitches and feedback artifacts that are complimented by (obsolete) soundscapes that originate from both analogue and digital media. For the video Rosa Menkman exploited the analogue PAL signal from an NES, image bending, a broken digital photo camera, digital compression artifacts, video bending artifacts (DV, interlacing, datamoshing and black bursts) and feedback. For the sound she used a Cracklebox, feedback, a European telephone signal, Morse code, an old Casio keyboard, feedback filters and a couple of DV-compressed video soundbends. She also sampled two old videoclips she made for Extraboy and Daniel Wilson.
 

http://videoscapes.blogspot.com/2010/07/collapse-of-pal.html

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