我台 Channel Me

The project “Channel Me” came about through casual conversation with friends, and through the anxiety that I experience every year during Chinese New Year in Beijing. I decided to simulate a television station and call it “Channel Me.” The intent of “Channel Me” is the following: everyone is thinking of ways to be heard and everyone wants a way to express themselves, so this is an experiment directed at the power of media. This “television station” had a window facing the hutong, anyone could sign up and take part. Participants performed inside the space with two cameras shooting simultaneously. The resulting programs were broadcast live on a 29-inch TV placed in the window. People walking past in the hutong could watch the broadcast freely. All of the participating performers and camera people were volunteers. They were not compensated. Filming equipment was borrowed from friends, and editing was done the same day as the filming. For the following six days after filming, the footage was shown on a repeating loop.

--Nie Mu