TV Tubes Caught In The Act

Gary writes, "Here are some pictures of tube tv's the moment they're being switched off."

I usually shy away from anything that an artist describes as "self-referential, concrete photography." But Stephan Tillmans' Leuchtpunktordnungen exhibit brings back memories of old tube TVs flickering into offness.

Perhaps it's worth writing to TV manufacturers to suggest that they should add a simulation of the effect to their modern lineup of LCD panels. But they'd only laugh. And, sadly, the only remaining tube in my house is digitally controlled and behaves much too predictably when switched off.

But back to Mr Tillman. His photos are cool, but his claim that "The breakdown of the television picture describes the breakdown of external reference" is art school pretension at its worst. He simply stumbled upon a charming analog glitch and snapped some cool photos.

Stephan Tillmans: Leuchtpunktordnungen - Luminant point arrays