Video is Television? (1989)

In a collision of media images and images of the media, Muntadas fuses films, video and television as a hall of mirrors that reflects contemporary culture. Seen in close-up fragments, television and video images from cinematic sources — Poltergeist, Videodrome, Network, The Candidate — and video art tapes are rendered as illegible, abstracted fields. Against this ground of scanlines and shadowy images, a series of isolated words — "manipulation," "context," "audience," "fragment" — comprise an index of the tactics of the television apparatus, as well as Muntadas' (video's) reflexive strategies of critiquing the media. As Glenn Branca's tense musical score accelerates to a climax, the final video image, which depicts television sets in a consumer display, fragments and disintegrates.

Director: Antoni Muntadas
Runtime: 6 min
Release Date:
Original Language: en
More Films by Director: Antoni Muntadas

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Video is Television? about?
In a collision of media images and images of the media, Muntadas fuses films, video and television as a hall of mirrors that reflects contemporary culture. Seen in close-up fragments, television and video images from cinematic sources — Poltergeist, Videodrome, Network, The Candidate — and video art tapes are rendered as illegible, abstracted fields. Against this ground of scanlines and shadowy images, a series of isolated words — "manipulation," "context," "audience," "fragment" — comprise an index of the tactics of the television apparatus, as well as Muntadas' (video's) reflexive strategies of critiquing the media. As Glenn Branca's tense musical score accelerates to a climax, the final video image, which depicts television sets in a consumer display, fragments and disintegrates.
Who directed Video is Television??
Video is Television? was directed by Antoni Muntadas.
How long is Video is Television??
Video is Television? has a runtime of 6m (6 minutes).