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BRUCE CHARLESWORTH

Video still from Communiqués for Tape

Communiqués for Tape was made as a video performance extension of the 1980 photo-novella, Special Communiqués. The central character is the same, a diarist prisoner named Marty. As in the photo-novella, Marty's confined experiences are punctuated by radio and television news flashes. After undergoing interrogations from a sentient tape recorder, he begins to lose his sense of purpose in a camera-centric way.  His last words are: "I'm going out of focus".

 

Direct address and medium-close shots are frequent. The camera is static and uses long takes. The single set is a Muybridge-like gridded wall. Communiqués for Tape is the first of four one-man videos made in 1981-82. It was featured as part of the exhibition Persona at the New Museum in 1981.

 

 

CAST: Bruce Charlesworth

 

3/4-inch video, 20 minutes

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Copyright © Bruce Charlesworth