The commodification
of the American presidency is examined and lampooned in PRESIDENTS
AND ELECTIONS, a compilation of work from the Video Data
Bank collections. Interweaving humorous, disquieting, and surreal videos
with actual presidential campaign ads, the program highlights the evolving
role of television as the driving force of electoral politics. Using
appropriated media footage, parodic performance, historical reenactment,
and other tactics, the artists represented in this program subvert and
disrupt the inanity/insanity of dominant political discourse with their
own acts of media manipulation.
Available on VHS for rental ($125 per week) or purchase ($300) or on DVD
for $325 (purchase only).
Click here for exact program listing with running times
Antonio Muntadas & Marshall Reese
2000
The fifth update of Muntadas and Reese's ongoing series documenting
the selling of the American presidency features political ads from
the 1950s to the 2000 campaign and highlights the development of the
political strategy and marketing techniques of the TV campaign
process.
NOW AVAILABLE: Political Advertisement 2004. See New Releases section for details.
Spin (excerpts)
Brian
Springer
1995
A compilation of TV out-takes appropriated from network satellite feeds that reveals U.S. media personalities’ contempt their viewers, and unravels the tightly-spun fabric of television—a system that silences public debate and enforces the exclusion of anyone outside the pack of journalists, politicians, spin doctors, and televangelists who manufacture the news.
The
Eternal Frame (excerpt)
Ant
Farm & T.R. Uthco
1976
Irreverent yet poignant, The Eternal Frame is a re-enactment of the assassination
of John F. Kennedy as seen in the famous Zapruder film.
Perfect
Leader
Max
Almy
1983
A satire of the political television spot, Perfect Leader shows that ideology is the product and power is the payoff. The process of political imagemaking and the marketing of a candidate is revealed, as an omnipotent computer manufactures the perfect candidate, offering up three political types: Mr. Nice Guy, an evangelist, and an Orwellian Big Brother. Behind the candidates, symbols of political promises quickly degenerate into icons of oppression and nuclear war.
Decision
80
Jim
Finn
2003
Appropriated network-TV footage of Jimmy Carter’s "I see risk" speech from the 1980 Democratic Convention meets Reagan’s gloomy inaugural ride through D.C.: "If you succumb to a dream world, you’ll wake up to a nightmare."
The
Speech
Doug
Hall
1982
This tape grew out of Hall's fascination with Ronald Reagan and his uncanny
ability to demonstrate what Hall calls the "Signifiers of Americanism.”
Stoney
Does Houston (excerpt)
Bob
Hercules
1992
Renowned street performer Stoney Burke leads us on a subversive tour of
the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston’s Astrodome.
Election
Collectibles
Bryan
Boyce
2000
In this faux-recreation of a home-shopping network, Al Gore and George
W. Bush offer you a 'super-premium' collectible lamp commemorating the
2000 presidential election.
State
of the Union
Bryan
Boyce
2001
Baby Bush meets Tubby-land.