WILD BLUE
TV Tower, Berlin
Mixed Media
2010


Asked to participate in a series of projects at the former GDR exhibition space for East Berlin located at the base of the Berliner Fernsehturm, I was more interested in the tower itself, a focal point, seen from innumerable points. Meanwhile, it also works as a vantage point; as spectators can take the lift to the meant-to-be-luxury dining facility up top, a 360-degree restaurant which rotates to stoke their sense of omniscience.

So, all eyes seeing something visible. But a type of visibility that would be starting to seem as if it might be trying to not be visible, engaging a sort of Blatant Stealth Activity. Here I turned to an obsolete form of camoflauge used by the allied forces in WWI/WWII as it seemed that the ostentatious geometry of the base of the tower itself was reminiscent of these designs: Razzle Dazzle, intended to exploit focal limitations of optical scope technology, though at face value these designs are clearly visible. Ooo, they really pop, don't they now.



So, I set out to make this sort of All-Over Op-Art painting, using over-loaded languages while recording this from multiple points simultaneously. And this did occur. Recordings exist in both tangible and folkloric form.