ban/peg
Hunter Marrs
Thirty years before YouTube was created, people were already producing and broadcasting a variety of video content to the public through cable networks. The First Amendment rules that Congress should make no law respecting either the establishment of religion, or the prohibition of its free exercise; this makes Public Access Television an outlet for anyone to promote, discuss, or visualize anything without repercussions. There were no budgets for these projects, and in accordance with the law, they could not be monetized. These budgetary constraints meant that there was no system of archival, and many of these broadcasts have been lost or scattered over the years.
Ban/peg (public, educational, governmental channels) is a trove of some of the most bizarre and suppressed Public Access content, ranging from broadcasts of the first shows to present-day programming. Using resources such as online public libraries, the Wayback Machine, YouTube, and Reddit, this once-live-viewed footage is documented through text summaries followed by stills and transcription. Each section length is determined by these given factors: date of release, location of viewing, number of episodes, and show popularity.
The video component of this project is an installation, juxtaposing clips from public access shows to create new meanings. Inane children's shows are spliced with profane or pornographic content. Contrasting narratives of free speech, religion, and violence coalesce in a lurid stew of video Americana.