Vákuum Tv

Vákuum Tv was not a television channel in the traditional sense, but a live show that ran in Budapest between 1994 and 1995 at Budapest's influential subcultural nightclub of the 1990s, Tilos az Á. Although pigeonholing the show into genres (i.e. interactive theatre, video cabaret, live TV) is somewhat pointless, it can be said that Vákuum Tv was a modern cabaret that mixed theatre with video, performance with television, games with art. Vákuum Tv transformed the solitary, home-bound ritual of watching television into interactive community television, setting the stage inside a giant TV set. It was an original and pioneering blend of entertainment that remains innovative today. László Kistamás' idea came to life in 1994 when he and Dóra Csernátony began production, and were soon joined by the other founding members. The core members of the group, Dóra Csernátony, Kristóf Forgács, Donáta Gajzágó, Dániel Garas, László Kistamás and Attila Till created more than 50 performances in total. Later Géza Fekete, Gyula Gulyás, Eszter Gyalog and in the last phase Ferenc Gróf and András Medvegy joined the group. Vákuum Tv later participated in several festivals abroad, including Next 5 Minutes, a tactical media conference in Amsterdam, the Fleche d'Or Café in Paris, and the U2 event series in Vienna. In the summer of 2000, Vákuum Tv staged two full evenings of entertainment, science and theatre on the terrace of the City Park Ice Rink. Transposing the concept of the Uránia Science Theater of 100 years ago into the present, the project presented the latest technical innovations and problems of our time in a novel, entertaining, theatrical form. Vákuum Tv opened the way to a new kind of intellectual journey. (Source)

Publications

• Kristóf Forgács, A Vákuum Tv: intermediális performansz-kabaré 1994‒95 közötti időszaka, Budapest, 2022, 173 pp. PhD thesis. (Hungarian)

Links

• Website
• Youtube