Self-Burial (Television Interference Project)
- Artist: Keith Arnatt
- Date: 1969
- Medium: 9 photographs, gelatin silver prints on paper on board
- Dimensions: image, each: 467 x 467 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is the “Self‑Burial (Television Interference Project)” by Keith Arnatt. The work consists of nine gelatin silver prints, each about 18 × 18¾ mm, mounted on paper and board. In October 1969 Arnatt had them sent to Westdeutsches Fernsehen in Germany for a brief TV experiment. Each day one photograph was slipped into the regular schedule at roughly two seconds long – first after the news, then again at peak viewing time – interrupting whatever programme followed. No credits or explanations were given; viewers had to fill in their own meaning.
Arnatt conceived this as a “behavioural” response to ideas about art disappearing into the landscape. The photographs capture the stages of a self‑burial he performed in Monmouthshire, and when broadcast they become a momentary interruption that forces an audience to question what is happening on screen. The sequence therefore illustrates both his fascination with earth‑based works that leave no trace, and the way television can disrupt narrative and invite new interpretation.
See it in person
Self-Burial (Television Interference Project) is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
