Video

Anthem

Robert Hamilton

2026, 04:05 minutes, colour, no dialogue

TAPECODE 066.29

Anthem is a reimagining of the traditional television broadcast sign-off. Before the era of 24-hour digital streaming, televisions went to sleep. The daily broadcast sign-off was a ritualistic farewell, wrapping viewers in a blanket of stylized patriotism and nostalgic imagery accompanied with a national anthem before fading into static. Anthem resurrects this forgotten cultural artifact.
 
Utilizing over 60 short clips shot in Japan, China, the Netherlands, the USA, and Canada, the work is rhythmically edited to a public performance of a Canadian military band. Unlike many video compilations posted on social media, this work is composed of original footage.
 
The result is a personal, fragmented, transnational reinterpretation of the idea of a sign-off, a meditation on borders, memory, and the media that once united us before the screen went dark.

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Critical Writing

Bill Viola: Bill Viola: Venice Biennale 1995 by Marilyn A. Zeitlin
by Chrissie Iles. Art Journal, Winter 1995, v. 54, no. 4.
Interview with Bill Viola: Bill Viola: Venice Biennale 1995 by...
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by Cameron Bailey. Now, Apr. 23, 1992, v. 11, no. 34.
A Parade of Memorable Images: Images 92 Festival of Independent...
by Noah Cowan. EYE WEEKLY, Apr. 23, 1992, no. 98.
Chapter 6: An Other and Its Other
by Sean Cubitt. Timeshift. On Video Culture, 1991. London, New York: Routledge, Comedia, 1991.
Segue Ways: Everything In Its Time And In Its Place
by Jill Pollack. Video Guide, Dec. 1988, v. 9, no. 45.
Manhattan Shortcuts: Recent Acquisitions at the MOMA, New York
by Ann-Sargent Wooster. Afterimage, Nov. Winter 1984, v. 12, no. 4.
USA
by Marita Sturken. Video 84, Sept. 1984.