In a transformative spectacle of sound and vision, E.S.P. TV metamorphosed Pioneer Works' second-floor expanse into a performative televisual installation, melding seamlessly with the open-plan office on the first floor. The office, akin to a dynamic sculptural set, painted in fragments of chroma blue with walls that dance and sway, unraveled as the canvas for the weekly rituals of the staff's workweek. A de-centralized control room encircled this office-space stage, a locus where the "daily grind" of the staff intersected with bespoke video effects and rhythmic interludes of hourly commercial disruptions.
This wasn't the realm of mundane reality TV spectacle; instead, WORK transmuted the ordinary cadence of office life into a whimsical, improbable narrative, unfolding in serialized splendor on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network. In collaboration with curator David Everitt Howe, E.S.P. TV envisioned and executed this social experiment, an adaptive exploration harmonizing with the distinctive contours of the building and the tightly interwoven fabric of the collective office culture. The installation, a tapestry of a "contemporary" office, featured sculptural vignettes brought to life in real-time or through the alchemy of video editing.
Live TV mixing consoles, monitors, program feeds, and a roving camera crew enveloped and permeated the working office. Within this intricate web, Pioneer Works staff assumed dual roles—simultaneously employees and cast members—engaging in a daily dance choreographed by an evolving algorithm. This algorithm wove together their names, camera shots, and an office etiquette handbook, generating a text that served as an abstract script or textual narrative guiding the subsequent alchemy of episode editing and the emergence of subtitles. The office, once a realm of routine, now pulsated with the harmonics of a script continually rewritten by the rhythms of labor and the serendipity of the televisual experiment.
ESP TV is a collaboration between artists Scott Kiernan and Victoria Keddie that utilizes a mobile television studio to explore televisual language. They focus on the performative nature of production itself: through installations, broadcasts and live television taping events. They have built a strong network through artist collaboration, amassing an extensive archive detailing these unique explorations of performance, sound, and vision.
Exhibited: Pioneer Works, Brooklyn NY, February 10 -March 26, 2016