The Collapse of PAL - re-rendered version of a live av-performance for national Danish television SOUND & TELEVISION.
Curated by Kristoffer Gansing and Linda Hilfling, and subsequently performed at oa. Transmediale (Germany) and Nova festival (Brasil).
Curated by Kristoffer Gansing and Linda Hilfling, and subsequently performed at oa. Transmediale (Germany) and Nova festival (Brasil).
In The Collapse of PAL, the Angel of History (as conceived by Walter Benjamin in 1940) reflects on the termination of the analog signal PAL (Phase Alternate Line Signal).
This death sentence, although executed in silence, is a brutally violent act that leaves many technologies disregarded and ready to fall into obsolescence.
While PAL may now be declared dead (or a zombie signal), the technology still exists as a trace left upon newer and so called ‘better’ digital technologies; technologies that have build upon, appropriated and inherited from the signal.
The Angel realizes that the new DVB signal (Digital Video Broadcasting), which has been chosen over PAL, may be different, yet at the same time also inherently flawed.
☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰
The Collapse of PAL is about the loss of connection, histories left behind, obsolescence and decalibration. Originally there are three chapters: Eulogy, Obsequies and Requiem for the planes of phosphor, but not all re-renders feature all chapters.
☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰
︎ Order and Progress catalogue text by Domenico Quaranta
︎ Collapse of PAL in What is Media Archaeology? by Jussi Parikka ︎ Collapse of PAL in Angelic Ecologies by Sean Cubitt
This death sentence, although executed in silence, is a brutally violent act that leaves many technologies disregarded and ready to fall into obsolescence.
While PAL may now be declared dead (or a zombie signal), the technology still exists as a trace left upon newer and so called ‘better’ digital technologies; technologies that have build upon, appropriated and inherited from the signal.
The Angel realizes that the new DVB signal (Digital Video Broadcasting), which has been chosen over PAL, may be different, yet at the same time also inherently flawed.
☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰
The Collapse of PAL is about the loss of connection, histories left behind, obsolescence and decalibration. Originally there are three chapters: Eulogy, Obsequies and Requiem for the planes of phosphor, but not all re-renders feature all chapters.
☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰
︎ Order and Progress catalogue text by Domenico Quaranta
︎ Collapse of PAL in What is Media Archaeology? by Jussi Parikka ︎ Collapse of PAL in Angelic Ecologies by Sean Cubitt
Nova Roja Trailer / Rosa Menkman - Collapse of PAL 2010-2012.
The Collapse was performed, amongst other places:
* TV-TV, Copenhagen (2010)
* Quartier 21, Vienna (2011)
* STRP, Eindhoven (2011)
* Transmediale, Berlin (2011)
* Nova Festival, Sao Paolo (2011)
The Collapse was performed, amongst other places:
* TV-TV, Copenhagen (2010)
* Quartier 21, Vienna (2011)
* STRP, Eindhoven (2011)
* Transmediale, Berlin (2011)
* Nova Festival, Sao Paolo (2011)
Nova Roja Collapse of PAL end when Defi destroys the screens. Below: live at Xrt 2011.
the Collapse of PAL at NXT, Amsterdam, NL (2025).Elegy for the Collapse of PAL (2016)
Years after its Collapse, the Angel of History receives a live broadcast from PAL. The Angel, who is now rendering vectors, catches up with PAL, sharing new broadcast technologies as well as traces and reflections of the past.
☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰
In 2010, media artists Vade and Bangnoise released SYPHON, a live video-distribution plug-in capable of routing real-time streams between otherwise incompatible applications; the tool enables analog PAL to be transcoded and manipulated within contemporary digital workflows.
This allowed for a new consideration of the role of old broadcast technologies in relation to contemporary ones.
☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰
I first performed Elegy as a ten-minute solo piece at Radiator Gallery, New York City, in 2017. A screen-recorded version—displayed behind a shrine of blue, fire-scorched cassette tapes—was later shown at Vivid Projects, Birmingham, in a presentation curated by Antonio Roberts.
The accompanying text appears in Across & Beyond: A transmediale Reader on Post-Digital Practices, Concepts, and Institutions (2016).
︎ pdf version.
Installation at Vivid Projects: Superseded (2017)
Photo by Antonio Roberts
Years after its Collapse, the Angel of History receives a live broadcast from PAL. The Angel, who is now rendering vectors, catches up with PAL, sharing new broadcast technologies as well as traces and reflections of the past.
☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰
In 2010, media artists Vade and Bangnoise released SYPHON, a live video-distribution plug-in capable of routing real-time streams between otherwise incompatible applications; the tool enables analog PAL to be transcoded and manipulated within contemporary digital workflows.
This allowed for a new consideration of the role of old broadcast technologies in relation to contemporary ones.
☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰☰
I first performed Elegy as a ten-minute solo piece at Radiator Gallery, New York City, in 2017. A screen-recorded version—displayed behind a shrine of blue, fire-scorched cassette tapes—was later shown at Vivid Projects, Birmingham, in a presentation curated by Antonio Roberts.
The accompanying text appears in Across & Beyond: A transmediale Reader on Post-Digital Practices, Concepts, and Institutions (2016).
︎ pdf version.
Installation at Vivid Projects: Superseded (2017)
Photo by Antonio Roberts
