Souvenirs from Earth (SFE) is an independent TV station broadcasting a 24/7 program of art films, music, installations, and performances. It is based in Germany and currently can be viewed via French, German, and Austrian cable as well as over the internet through the website's livestream and in certain public locations. A catalog of over 3000 videos of art, experimental films, contemporary dance videos, avante garde music videos, and films of photographs are in constant motion within the channel earning it the nickname as "The MTV of Contemporary Art".

History

Close to the ideas of

Nam June Paik Nam June Paik (; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a Korean American artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super hi ...

and

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

, the concept for the channel was first presented at the

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch, the ICA c ...

in 1998 and at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

in 1999 by Marcus Kreiss. In 2006, SFE received the license to broadcast in Germany and the channel officially went on air that year. In 2008, the channel started airing in France via

Iliad (company) Iliad S.A. is a French provider of telecommunication services. It is based in Paris and its operations comprise fixed and mobile telephony services, prepaid phone cards and internet access providing and hosting services. The company was founde ...

and in 2014 the channel started broadcasting via Austrian cable through Kabel Austria and A One. In 2009, SFE acquired a permanent installation at

Palais de Tokyo The Palais de Tokyo (''Tokyo Palace'') is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, facing the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs to ...

and, in 2010, the channel became a residing fixture in all German airports. In 2011, the SFE was invited by the French Institute to present the channel at the Nam June Paik Center in Seoul, South Korea"Article of Souvenirs from Earth." . The Korean Times, 5 Oct. 2011. Web. 23 May 2014. . and while there put a show together to be viewed in Central Station on the largest LED screen in the world. In 2007, the channel's staff added Alec Crichton, a curator from the

Academy of Media Arts Cologne The Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM) is an art and film school started 1990 in Cologne, Germany Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-mos ...

to manage the incoming submissions from international artists for the channel's broadcast. In 2012, Markus Kienast, a telco engineer, created the livestream and aided the station's programming software and international development while Wolfgang Kabisch, a cultural journalist, became the editor-in-chief of the channel's cultural output in 2013. In 2014, glamour girl Melissa Mourer Ordener joined the team as the official muse.

Programming

SFE is an alternative approach to television and is referred to as "anti-television" or "the MTV of contemporary art". The content is submitted by artists around the world and then curated into constantly changing broadcasts. The channel has no broadcast schedule and is constantly bringing in new content, so each viewing experience is completely unique and unpredictable. SFE programming is largely non-verbal due to the nature of video art and can be understood no matter what language the viewer speaks. SFE plans for this to appeal to a broader international audience and is the first international art channel thanks to the lack of a language barrier. The online livestream broadcasts the same content around the world so everyone is always watching the same content in real time. The channel also gives universities the opportunity to have their own broadcast time so students can showcase their own work on the same platform as other renowned artists, such as

Tom Sachs Tom Sachs (born July 26, 1966) is an American contemporary artist who lives and works in New York City. Life and early career Sachs was born in New York City on July 26, 1966. He grew up in Westport, Connecticut, attending high school at Green ...

James Turrell James Turrell (born May 6, 1943) is an American artist known for his work within the Light and Space movement. Much of Turrell's career has been devoted to a still-unfinished work, ''Roden Crater'', a natural cinder cone crater located outside ...

Bill Viola Bill Viola ( , ; born 1951) is an American contemporary video artist whose artistic expression depends upon electronic, sound, and image technology in new media. His works focus on the ideas behind fundamental human experiences such as birth, d ...

, and Mike Kilo. In these cases, the broadcasts adopt the title "Souvenirs from ________ " (ex. Souvenirs from Mars is the name of the broadcast from The University of Marseille). A large portion of the broadcast is allotted to externally curated programs, often provided by young, up and coming curators, or to Carte Blanche special formats for artists (Iris Brosch, Tom Sachs…) or institutions (Art Cologne, Centre Georges Pompidou.) SFE expands the idea of television, giving it opportunities to be viewed both actively and passively as "video paintings" through the integration with public spaces.

The channel refuses to have advertisements broadcast on the channel in order to maintain the integrity of the art space and viewing experience. Companies looking to have their name on the channel have the option of making an art video that can be seamlessly integrated in to the programs or the station can air an "anti-commercial" in which the station broadcasts a solid color field with the name of the company in it for 30 seconds. Notable clients who have advertised using the channel include: *

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

Aesop (cosmetics) Aesop (stylised as Aēsop) is an Australian luxury cosmetics brand owned by Brazilian company Natura & Co that produces skin, hair, and body care products headquartered in Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia. Aesop was established in 1987 by De ...

*Spacehair *

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its produc ...

*Twins for Peace *Jeu de Paume *

Centre Georges Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

Art Cologne Art Cologne is an art fair held annually in Cologne, Germany and was established in 1967 as ''Kölner Kunstmarkt''. It is regarded as the world's oldest art fair of its kind. The fair runs for six days and brings together galleries from more than ...

Distribution

SFE distributes its programming continusously: * In France by

Orange S.A. Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 59,000 elsewhere. In 2015, ...

(channel 221), Free (channel 169), SFR (channel 183), and Bouygues (channel 217) * In Germany by

Unitymedia Vodafone GmbH is a mobile telecommunications operator in Germany headquartered in Düsseldorf. It provides mobile phone, LTE, 5G, cable internet, landlines, cable TV, and IPTV services. As of the third quarter of 2021, Vodafone GmbH has mor ...

and Kabel BW *In Austria by Kabel Eins * Via online streaming at souvenirsfromearth.tv

Public Spaces

Logo

The logo for SFE is inspired by

In Search of Lost Time ''In Search of Lost Time'' (french: À la recherche du temps perdu), first translated into English as ''Remembrance of Things Past'', and sometimes referred to in French as ''La Recherche'' (''The Search''), is a novel in seven volumes by French ...

Marcel Proust Valentin Louis Georges Eugène Marcel Proust (; ; 10 July 1871 – 18 November 1922) was a French novelist, critic, and essayist who wrote the monumental novel ''In Search of Lost Time'' (''À la recherche du temps perdu''; with the previous Eng ...

. In the book, there is a scene in which Proust recalls sitting in his garden and having a moment of total recall triggered by the taste of the

madeleine (cake) The madeleine (, or ) or petite madeleine () is a traditional small cake from Commercy and Liverdun, two communes of the Lorraine region in northeastern France. Madeleines are very small sponge cakes with a distinctive shell-like shape acquire ...

he was soaking in his tea. Proust's writing focused on memories and the idea that our memory affects our perception of reality and SFE incorporated this iconic madeline to symbolize the artistic process in which we transform our reality. The basis of the channel is a collective memory of moments which are the created reality of the artist behind the screen. The graphic design of the madeline also recalls the icon for

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...

and the futuristic concept of "video paintings" which were originally inspired by science fiction set designers.

References

External links

*{{Official website
ARTE CoverageVideo

SFE on Orange Network

SFE on GoGoParis
Direct broadcast satellite services