Bjorn Melhus, Germany The Oral Thing 2001, Germany 9’00’’

The Video is a short fable of the awkward confessions in so called Daytime-Talk shows. In a mixture of TV-church, Musical and Quiz, the Talk master asks two candidates without abdomen and arms, to elicit confessions about violence, Sex and incestuous Love, which is commented by the studio audience appearing like a choir. The permanent repetitions of a TV Logo marks or simulates the advertising interruptions. The primary dialogue is dissolving more and more into a recitative character. The restructured voice fragments are extracts from the US-American ›Maury Povich Show‹. Image and sound links to the Show ›The Weakest Link‹ can be recognized as well

b. 1966 in Kirchheim/Teck, Germany. 1988-1996 studied Film, Video at Academy of Fine Arts (HBK) Braunschweig School of Arts. 1997-1998 DAAD-stipend at the California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles. 2001-2002 New York residency at the ISCP (International Studio and Curatorial Program), Sponsered by the Ministry for Science, Research and Culture, Lower Saxony, Germany. Since 2003 Professor at the Kunsthochschule Kassel.