Janet Lilo

A Party Political Broadcast (2017)

30 secDigital Video / Sound

"There'll be no rest for the wicked
There's no song for the choir
There's no hope for the weary
If you let them win without a fight.

No rest for the wicked, Lykke Li (2014)

Last election close to a million enrolled voters from across New Zealand did not vote.

From the series Party Political Broadcast, presented on www.circuit.org.nz 19-22 September 2017, new works at 11am and 3pm daily.

Presented by CIRCUIT and The Physics Room, Party Political Broadcast is a collection of 8 video works inspired by the format of the televised party political broadcast.

Featuring new work by:

  • Janet Lilo

  • Murray Hewitt

  • Li-Ming Hu

  • Mark Harvey

  • Terri Te Tau

  • Miranda Bellamy

  • Fantasing

  • Callum Devlin

Each of the artists were given a time limit of 30 seconds in which “to offer their vision for (New Zealand’s) future”.

Originally developed in the 1960s for television, a Party Political Broadcast typically featured one politician speaking direct to camera, or a montage of images suggesting New Zealand as a country engulfed in economic and social peril, or on the cusp of prosperity for all. The Party Political Broadcast would screen in the regular television ad breaks, between commercials for butter, deodorant and other consumer products. Usually the clip would end with a tag line ‘This Election… ‘Vote Social Credit’ etc.  Some of these ads simply featured ‘ordinary New Zealanders’ talking about their hopes and dreams.

Other works in this series

CIRCUIT is the
leading voice
for artist moving image
practice
in Aotearoa New Zealand,
distributing works,
critical review and
dialogues
which reflect our unique, contemporary
South Pacific context.