17.09.1999 - 30.10.1999, Karlsruhe

John Miller

The Lugubrious Game

 

The installation „ The Lugubrious Game “ was created in corporation with the museum „Le Magasin“ in Grenoble for John Miller´s first overall view show (Übersichtsausstellung) with works from 1982 - 1999. Since the middle of the 1990ies from New York coming artist John Miller, who became famous in Europe for his so called “ brown paintings ” at the end of the 1980ies, has been working on the „Game Show Paintings“ – series. These pictures show scenes from mostly in the afternoon televised TV Game Shows (such as „Der Preis ist heiß“ or „Glücksrad“ ).
On one hand the decoration of TV Game Shows illustrates a potential/possible definition of the American Lifestle for John Miller, on the other hand the artist doesn´t only see these games as a competion for material/concrete objects but also as a field where human emotions are shown/expressed. For the present exhibition John Miller created the set of a fictional Game Show
On a scale of 1:1.

Imagine a television show devoid of human beings, devoid even of human voices. Now imagine that this show is a game show. The camera freely peruses a deserted set, where various products and prizes come and go with requisite degrees of fanfare. No figures or faces obstruct the camera’s course. Yet it has only a tableau to investigate and soon reaches the limits of its proscenium-arch world. Still, it obeys the unspoken rules, recording the given facade from the front only. The lighting remains flat and unchanging, immediately dispelling any hope that the tableau might be haunted.

When might such a program go out into the world and who would be its audience? Its appeal would clearly be limited. Yet, in this era of closely defined media cults, a show like this could nonetheless muster its own audience, even if that were only those who simply chose to watch out of frustration with television’s other offerings. The ideal broadcast time would be any time during the hours of the normal working day. Then, the program would more likely reach an audience with enough time on its hands to pursue arcane interests, an audience impelled to seek its own likeness among the props on stage – like a retiree absent-mindedly finishing a picture puzzle.
John Miller, June 1999