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45
MEDIA EVENT / POLITCAL PERFORMANCE
FRED
FOREST FOR PRESIDENT OF BULGARIAN NATIONAL TELEVISION:
Make TV More Nervous and Utopian!
PUBLIC
CAMPAIGN IN URBAN SPACE AND MASS MEDIA, SOFIA, BULGARIA
2-9 OCTOBER 1992
With
the help of Bulgarian journalist Rossen Milev and the support
opposition forces hoping to destabilize the neo-communist
regime in power and push their country further along the path
to democratization, the artist mounts a farcical campaign
for the presidency of Bulgarian national television based
on a platform calling for wide-ranging reforms designed to
bring about a more “utopian” and “nervous”
form of television in the formerly staunchly Stalinist land.
When the artist-candidate arrives in Sofia to begin a barnstorming
tour of the country, where he always appears wearing his trademark
rose-colored sunglasses, he causes quite a stir. People begin
to take his candidacy seriously; even his rival, the incumbent
Ognan Saparev, feels obliged to accept his challenge to take
part in a debate on live nationwide television. After a Dada-like
electoral motorcade through the streets of Sofia (a symbolic
march on the houses of parliament), the artist is pressured
to leave the country immediately—i.e., he is informed
in no uncertain terms that his presence is no longer welcome
and that his personal safety can no longer be guaranteed.
The work is a stunning example of how artists can increase
their political leverage through tactical uses of the mass
media.
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