1984: A Case Study in Finding an Appropriate TV Newswoman (A CBS Docudrama in Words and Pictures)
Robert Heinecken
1986
1984: A Case Study in Finding an Appropriate TV Newswoman (A CBS Docudrama in Words and Pictures)
1984: A Case Study in Finding an Appropriate TV Newswoman (A CBS Docudrama in Words and Pictures)
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A precursor to the appropriationist artists of the Picture Generation, Robert Heinecken dedicated his work to shifting attention away from the passive consumption of information toward an understanding of how information is constructed and received. ...
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1984: A Case Study in Finding an Appropriate TV Newswoman (A CBS Docudrama in Words and Pictures)
Robert Heinecken
1986
Los Angeles: Self-published
Unpaginated [16 pages]
28.5 × 22.5 cm

A precursor to the appropriationist artists of the Picture Generation, Robert Heinecken dedicated his work to shifting attention away from the passive consumption of information toward an understanding of how information is constructed and received.


 


In the late 1960s, Heinecken started to dismantle and reconfigure magazines, developing a major body of work that interrogated mass media through strategies of appropriation. Deeply political, his practice conceived of the artist’s book not as a static object but as a performative field in which existing systems of communication could be disrupted and exposed.


 


This later publication from the 1980s continues this line of inquiry through a fictional documentary investigation in which Heinecken assumes the role of an independent consultant for CBS News, tasked with searching for a new network newswoman. Drawing upon the evident gender disparities of the period, he constructs his investigation from screen captures of correspondents and permutations of video composites that combine contemporary CBS male news anchors such as Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumbel, David Hartman, Bill Kurtis, and Steve Baskerville with female broadcast journalists including Diane Sawyer, Jane Pauley, Joan Lunden, Susan Spencer, Jane Wallace, Connie Chung, Maria Shriver, Meredith Vieira, Vanessa Williams, Carol Martin, Pat Collins, and Phyllis George.


 


Heinecken’s investigation interrogates media notions such as network logic, subliminal visual registers, and physiognomic determinism. The result is a kind of “soap opera” built around the mysterious logic through which information and its transmission are manipulated and recombined to serve and protect specific interests.


 


On the cover appears one of the publication’s most memorable gender-fluid superimpositions: a composite portrait combining the faces of Connie Chung and Bill Kurtis. In 2013, Marc Selwyn Fine Art presented the photographic corpus resulting from this mockumentary investigation in a major solo exhibition titled Newswomen Corresponding.

Los Angeles: Self-published
Unpaginated [16 pages]
28.5 × 22.5 cm

A precursor to the appropriationist artists of the Picture Generation, Robert Heinecken dedicated his work to shifting attention away from the passive consumption of information toward an understanding of how information is constructed and received.

 

In the late 1960s, Heinecken started to dismantle and reconfigure magazines, developing a major body of work that interrogated mass media through strategies of appropriation. Deeply political, his practice conceived of the artist’s book not as a static object but as a performative field in which existing systems of communication could be disrupted and exposed.

 

This later publication from the 1980s continues this line of inquiry through a fictional documentary investigation in which Heinecken assumes the role of an independent consultant for CBS News, tasked with searching for a new network newswoman. Drawing upon the evident gender disparities of the period, he constructs his investigation from screen captures of correspondents and permutations of video composites that combine contemporary CBS male news anchors such as Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumbel, David Hartman, Bill Kurtis, and Steve Baskerville with female broadcast journalists including Diane Sawyer, Jane Pauley, Joan Lunden, Susan Spencer, Jane Wallace, Connie Chung, Maria Shriver, Meredith Vieira, Vanessa Williams, Carol Martin, Pat Collins, and Phyllis George.

 

Heinecken’s investigation interrogates media notions such as network logic, subliminal visual registers, and physiognomic determinism. The result is a kind of “soap opera” built around the mysterious logic through which information and its transmission are manipulated and recombined to serve and protect specific interests.

 

On the cover appears one of the publication’s most memorable gender-fluid superimpositions: a composite portrait combining the faces of Connie Chung and Bill Kurtis. In 2013, Marc Selwyn Fine Art presented the photographic corpus resulting from this mockumentary investigation in a major solo exhibition titled Newswomen Corresponding.

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A precursor to the appropriationist artists of the Picture Generation, Robert Heinecken dedicated his work to shifting attention away from the passive consumption of information toward an understanding of how information is constructed and received.

 

In the late 1960s, Heinecken started to dismantle and reconfigure magazines, developing a major body of work that interrogated mass media through strategies of appropriation. Deeply political, his practice conceived of the artist’s book not as a static object but as a performative field in which existing systems of communication could be disrupted and exposed.

 

This later publication from the 1980s continues this line of inquiry through a fictional documentary investigation in which Heinecken assumes the role of an independent consultant for CBS News, tasked with searching for a new network newswoman. Drawing upon the evident gender disparities of the period, he constructs his investigation from screen captures of correspondents and permutations of video composites that combine contemporary CBS male news anchors such as Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumbel, David Hartman, Bill Kurtis, and Steve Baskerville with female broadcast journalists including Diane Sawyer, Jane Pauley, Joan Lunden, Susan Spencer, Jane Wallace, Connie Chung, Maria Shriver, Meredith Vieira, Vanessa Williams, Carol Martin, Pat Collins, and Phyllis George.

 

Heinecken’s investigation interrogates media notions such as network logic, subliminal visual registers, and physiognomic determinism. The result is a kind of “soap opera” built around the mysterious logic through which information and its transmission are manipulated and recombined to serve and protect specific interests.

 

On the cover appears one of the publication’s most memorable gender-fluid superimpositions: a composite portrait combining the faces of Connie Chung and Bill Kurtis. In 2013, Marc Selwyn Fine Art presented the photographic corpus resulting from this mockumentary investigation in a major solo exhibition titled Newswomen Corresponding.

Los Angeles: Self-published
Unpaginated [16 pages]
28.5 × 22.5 cm

A precursor to the appropriationist artists of the Picture Generation, Robert Heinecken dedicated his work to shifting attention away from the passive consumption of information toward an understanding of how information is constructed and received.

 

In the late 1960s, Heinecken started to dismantle and reconfigure magazines, developing a major body of work that interrogated mass media through strategies of appropriation. Deeply political, his practice conceived of the artist’s book not as a static object but as a performative field in which existing systems of communication could be disrupted and exposed.

 

This later publication from the 1980s continues this line of inquiry through a fictional documentary investigation in which Heinecken assumes the role of an independent consultant for CBS News, tasked with searching for a new network newswoman. Drawing upon the evident gender disparities of the period, he constructs his investigation from screen captures of correspondents and permutations of video composites that combine contemporary CBS male news anchors such as Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumbel, David Hartman, Bill Kurtis, and Steve Baskerville with female broadcast journalists including Diane Sawyer, Jane Pauley, Joan Lunden, Susan Spencer, Jane Wallace, Connie Chung, Maria Shriver, Meredith Vieira, Vanessa Williams, Carol Martin, Pat Collins, and Phyllis George.

 

Heinecken’s investigation interrogates media notions such as network logic, subliminal visual registers, and physiognomic determinism. The result is a kind of “soap opera” built around the mysterious logic through which information and its transmission are manipulated and recombined to serve and protect specific interests.

 

On the cover appears one of the publication’s most memorable gender-fluid superimpositions: a composite portrait combining the faces of Connie Chung and Bill Kurtis. In 2013, Marc Selwyn Fine Art presented the photographic corpus resulting from this mockumentary investigation in a major solo exhibition titled Newswomen Corresponding.

MORE BOOKS

A precursor to the appropriationist artists of the Picture Generation, Robert Heinecken dedicated his work to shifting attention away from the passive consumption of information toward an understanding of how information is constructed and received.

 

In the late 1960s, Heinecken started to dismantle and reconfigure magazines, developing a major body of work that interrogated mass media through strategies of appropriation. Deeply political, his practice conceived of the artist’s book not as a static object but as a performative field in which existing systems of communication could be disrupted and exposed.

 

This later publication from the 1980s continues this line of inquiry through a fictional documentary investigation in which Heinecken assumes the role of an independent consultant for CBS News, tasked with searching for a new network newswoman. Drawing upon the evident gender disparities of the period, he constructs his investigation from screen captures of correspondents and permutations of video composites that combine contemporary CBS male news anchors such as Tom Brokaw, Bryant Gumbel, David Hartman, Bill Kurtis, and Steve Baskerville with female broadcast journalists including Diane Sawyer, Jane Pauley, Joan Lunden, Susan Spencer, Jane Wallace, Connie Chung, Maria Shriver, Meredith Vieira, Vanessa Williams, Carol Martin, Pat Collins, and Phyllis George.

 

Heinecken’s investigation interrogates media notions such as network logic, subliminal visual registers, and physiognomic determinism. The result is a kind of “soap opera” built around the mysterious logic through which information and its transmission are manipulated and recombined to serve and protect specific interests.

 

On the cover appears one of the publication’s most memorable gender-fluid superimpositions: a composite portrait combining the faces of Connie Chung and Bill Kurtis. In 2013, Marc Selwyn Fine Art presented the photographic corpus resulting from this mockumentary investigation in a major solo exhibition titled Newswomen Corresponding.

MORE BOOKS