Scottish Television, 1971

David Hall

Collaboration

David Hall’s TV Interruptions were created after a shift in his practice, moving from sculpture towards other forms of artistic activity, focussing on ideas and taking less interest in material. In the mid-1960s Hall took part in regular discussions with fellow artists which eventually led to the inception of the Artist Placement Group. Those artists involved in the discussions felt an urge to consider the broader context of their work, to widen its scope and to reconsider the relationship with the audience. As a consequence, and with the emergence of VHS video technology, Hall identified the medium of film and television as a new platform for his work to be presented and received by much broader audiences. In 1971, Hall was invited to participate in the exhibition Locations Edinburgh, initiated by the Scottish Arts Council. Together with curator Alistair Mackintosh, he approached Scottish Television to include a number of video pieces in their programme, without any announcement or crediting. Once this was agreed upon, Hall went on to produce ten videos in quick succession – one video per day – during his time in Edinburgh. They were sent immediately to the broadcasting studio in Glasgow to be aired during the advertisement breaks and in random order, several times throughout the day.

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Although David Hall’s collaboration with Scottish Television was not negotiated through the APG, his TV Interruptions stand exemplary for the APG’s aim to identify new fields of action for artistic production. Today, seven out of the ten films have been preserved and are shown here as TV Interruptions (7 TV Pieces): The Installation, which was developed by Hall in 2006.