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Artist(s) Keith ArnattCollaborator(s) Herring, Ed (photographer); Schum, Gerry (producer)Country of Residence WalesTitle Self-Burial or The Disappearance of the Artist; also: Self-Burial (Television Interference Project)Date Summer 1969; broadcast: 11-18 October 1969 at 8.15 and 9.15pmExtent Photographic work: 9 b/w photographs on 467 x 467 mm frame: 474 x 473 mm on paper, print; Televisual work: 1 minute.Site Tintern; broadcast: WDR3Event Sponsor Westdeutscher Rundfunk WDR3, GermanyType Photographic Work; Televisual WorkKeywords land art; conceptual artTraces photographic work: 9 Photographs on board, image: 467 x 467 mm frame: 474 x 473 mm, on paper, print. Tate collection T01747; televisual work: 1 minute. Archive Westdeutscher Rundfunk.Notes Other important performance events in Wales this year Jeffrey Shaw Smokescreen (Swansea); Cardiff Arts Centre Project - Shop in Queen Street; Barry Summer School (teachers include George Brecht). |
1965 : 1966 : 1967 : 1968 : 1969Self-Burial or The Disappearance of the Artist; also: Self-Burial (Television Interference Project)
With the emergence of Conceptual art, many artists argued that art should be an activity or an experience, instead of simply an object. Self Burial is an ironic and humorous response. As Arnatt wrote, 'the continual reference to the disappearance of the art object suggested to me the eventual disappearance of the artist himsel'. These photos were first broadcast on German television in October 1969. One photo was shown each day, for about two seconds. They were neither announced nor explained – viewers had to make what sense of them they could. (From the display caption July 2005. (The Tate Collection www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?workid=589&searchid=16566) With no announcement or further commentary, WDR 3 television inserted into the programmes showing between 11 and 18 October 1969 a series of nine photographs depicting Arnatt gradually sinking into the ground. Two consecutive photos were shown each evening, the first one at 8.15pm, directly after the main news broadcast, the second one in the middle of whatever programme was running at 9.15pm. The enigma was solved at the end of the one-week series by an interview with the artist. As Arnatt explained, the series was not created specifically for TV transmission: 'It was originally made as a comment upon the notion of the «disappearance of the art object». It seemed a logical corollary that the artist should also disappear.' October 11-18, 1969: Keith Arnatt's 'Self-Burial', executed earlier
in the year in Tintern, England [sic!], is transmitted on German
television under the auspices of Gerry Schum. The piece consists
of nine photographs showing Arnatt processively sinking into the
earth. Each one was shown twice each day for two seconds, cut into
the daily television programming, with no introduction or commentary.
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