[MALE ANNOUNCER] This is CNN.
[Omer Fast: "CNN Concatenated"]
[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]
I / just / feel / like / I / have / so / much / to / give / but
sometimes / you / can / be / so / full / of / resentment.
[MAN TAKES A BREATH]
Why / is / that?
[MAN TAKES A BREATH]
Perhaps / I / talk / too / much.
[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]
Maybe / I / come / on / a / little / too / strong.
[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]
Sometimes / even / I / over / react.
[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]
Okay.
[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]
[OMER FAST] So "CNN Concatenated" is an 18-minute-long monologue, in a sense,
that's composed from thousands of very small clips
recorded on the Cable News Network.
[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]
If / we're / going / to be / in / this / relationship
for / some / time,
we / may / as / well / begin / working / on / this / together / now.
[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]
It's / not / enough / to / turn / me / on / once / in / a / while.
[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]
It's / not / enough / for / you / to / turn / to / me
every / time / you / need / something.
[MAN TAKES A BREATH]
[FAST] I started the piece earlier than 2001
and began collecting material not really knowing
what I was going to do with it,
and began to form very primitive sentences
with these little words that I was collecting.
...statistics / and / their / partisan / priorities,
between / the / Middle / East / and / the / Far / West,
between / the / Mid / West / and / the / Far / East,
between / the / coasts / and / the / swing / states,
between / the / standards / of / reporting / and / the
measures / of / the / demographic / tastes
between / the / spy / plane / and / the / space / station,
civilians / on / submarines / and / billionaires / in / orbiting / vacations...
[FAST] And then I moved to Germany on September 1st, 2001,
and, while sitting in German classes learning a language--
and writing downs words and reciting them--
I heard about the attacks on the World Trade Center,
and realized that the piece, in a sense,
would have to change.
I kept ordering VHS cassettes from CNN
of the aftermath.
And through that footage,
the challenge was to articulate a voice--
to try to locate a voice-
that sort of responds to all that,
or rather speaks through it at the same time.
[MAN TAKES A BREATH]
Where / do / our / respons- / -ibilities / begin?
[MAN TAKES A BREATH]
Where / do / our / needs / end?
[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]
What / have / we / done / to / deserve / this?
[MAN TAKES SILENT PAUSE]
What / could / we / have / done / to / prevent / it / from / happening?
[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]
What / can / we / learn?
[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]
Where / do / we / go / from / here?
[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]
What / do / we / know?
[MAN TAKES A BREATH]
How / have / we / changed?
[MAN TAKES A BREATH]
What / should / we / have / done / different / -ly?
[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]
Who / can / we / trust?
[FAST] But if the work succeeds,
it's when you pass that point--
you begin to almost close your eyes,
with all the clutter
and with all the noise that it makes
and begin to listen to that voice
that's speaking through the footage.
That voice, it's a pretty scared voice.
It's pretty urgent,
demanding, aggressive, scared voice.
I / don't / know / what / to / say.
[WOMAN TAKES SILENT PAUSE]
[FAST] That voice is, I suppose, in a way,
that kind of...
those sort of agents or their doppelganger
that are used for me.
[WOMAN TAKES A BREATH]
Every / time / I / try / to / speak / carefully,
I / fuck / up / and / make / a / big / mess / of / it / all.
[WOMAN TAKES SILENT PAUSE]