Deadly Storms

Deadly Storms is based on appropriated audio footage from the US American news network FOX NEWS. Three identical talking heads separated on three vertical screens are repeating phrases and statements of alert and threat as well as happy journalism. The repetitive elements and the structures are set to rhythm and exercise a hypnotic power on the viewer that, together with the utterances and the emotionally charged language, serve the traditional rhetorical strategy of enchantment and persuasion. The gaze directed out of the picture is suggestive of a direct appeal and refers to composited framed talking heads in news broadcast, who are always addressing the viewer while having a conversation. The psychagogic effect of the image is intensified in Melhus' work by the rhythmic, in parts melodic articulation of the text, the words of which are spoken synchronically with varied vocal emphasis. Deadly Storms tries to focus on the overall tone, the manipulative carrier of the content rather than on the grotesque political content itself. During the last 10 years Rupert Murdoch's FOX NEWS became one of the most powerful and influential news networks in the United States. Claiming to be fair and balanced, the over designed propaganda machine creates an atmosphere of permanent alert and fear.