When you peel away the ultra-thin display layer from the face of a television, all that remains are the hollow casing and the backlight panel nestled within. Typically, these backlights, essential for illuminating the transparent pixels on the display, remain unseen to the user. They often consist of an array of LEDs or rows of slender fluorescent tubes in older models. Stripped of their media layer, these outdated TVs reduce to mere conduits of plain light. Gone are the images and sounds, replaced by the eerie flicker of bluish LED grids, resembling the ghostly remnants of a bygone era of media.
For my exhibition „Ihr Paket ist abholbereit“ at the Kkunsthalle Osnabrueck, we created three chandeliers, each using 12 recycled TVs of various sizes obtained from the local recycling yard. These chandeliers have a diameter of 3.50 meters and weigh over 180 kg each. Interestingly, our main challenge was ensuring the TVs remained illuminated rather than slipping into standby mode, which was quite amusing given their intended function as lights. To address this, we implemented a solution involving periodic power cuts to prompt the TVs to reboot, resulting in a continuous cycle of screens flickering on and off.
