-
[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]
Art21