Purple Television
Alex Bag TV Takeover
We are happy to invite artist Alex Bag to curate a selection of her favorite videos for a Purple TV Takeover. The takeover coincides with our special women’s fashion story from the latest Purple Fashion (available to view online here) and her upcoming solo exhibition at ICA Miami opening tomorrow.
Bag rose to prominence in the 1990’s with her provocative video art, normally taking on the roles herself. Her satirical commentary on identity, character, personality, and livelihood predicted today’s obsession with video and photo identity created through blogs and social media. She played dress-up in her short, funny, and thought-provoking videos, acting out roles, throwing her ego and her voice in all different directions. She wasn’t just an artist playing games with images and mass media, she was a comedian and a social critic.
When asked to select ten videos that have impacted Bag, her eclectic choices range from an interview with the late writer David Foster Wallace with the infamous Charlie Rose to a babies Diaper Surprise TV commercial. See a video per day on Purple TV.
[December 9 2015] : love
Alex Bag TV Takeover / EZ Cracker by Emson
“Thank God for the EZ Cracker! It changed my life! My stovetop used to be covered in perpetual colloidal goo from my many failed attempts at egg cracking. What a mess! My homemade cookies used to be teeming with eggshells. Gross! But not anymore! My EZ Cracker let’s me crack, crack, crack whole days away! And there’s nothing more relaxing than sitting in a tubful of expertly cracked eggs at the end of a long, EZ day of cracking them!” – Alex Bag
[December 7 2015] : love
Alex Bag TV Takeover / Babies Diaper Surprise TV Commercial by Lalaloopsy
“My son first alerted me to this commercial about a year ago. He was 4 at the time, fully potty trained, and in the midst of watching some probably equally detrimental children’s programming when suddenly he shouted: ‘Mama! Mama! Come quick! It’s gisgusting!'” – Alex Bag
[December 5 2015] : love
Alex Bag TV Takeover / World’s Deadliest – Hypnosis Attack by NatGeo Wild
“If I was a young, brash, in your face, fuck-all hotshot programming director, and someone secretly dosed me with ibogaine, I have a very strong feeling that I would chuck out all news, chat, sit-com, drama and reality and turn my network over entirely to the cuttlefish.” – Alex Bag
[December 5 2015] : love
Alex Bag TV Takeover / World’s Deadliest – “Sudden Death” Cuttlefish by NatGeo Wild
“If I was a young, brash, in your face, fuck-all hotshot programming director, and someone secretly dosed me with ibogaine, I have a very strong feeling that I would chuck out all news, chat, sit-com, drama and reality and turn my network over entirely to the cuttlefish.” – Alex Bag
[December 3 2015] : music
Alex Bag TV Takeover / Richard Hell Interview on Videowave (1983) by Videowave
“Something about this interview reminds me of a recurring dream I’ve been trapped in at least since high school.” – Alex Bag
[December 2 2015] : music
Alex Bag TV Takeover / David Bowie Interview on the Dick Cavett Show (1974) by Dick Cavett Show
“These were dark days for David Bowie. I believe that 1975 was also the year that he was purportedly “captured” by a witch and a warlock and brought to an undisclosed location somewhere in LA in order to have his semen “extracted” for use in a ritual ceremony on All Saints’ Eve. That same year he saw cause to perform an exorcism on his indoor swimming pool, during which several eye-witnesses saw the water boil and demon shaped stain emerge on the pool’s bottom.” – Alex Bag
Watch the next part of the interview here
[November 30 2015] : love
Alex Bag TV Takeover / Charlie Rose interviews David Foster Wallace by Charlie Rose Show
“In what’s turning out to be a sub-category of awkward interviews, this one really tops the list. Get past the winces and grimaces and enjoy! Then, put away all portable devices and read his essay E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction.” – Alex Bag
[December 1 2015] : music
Alex Bag TV Takeover / GZA Liquid Swords Live On Squirt TV by Squirt TV
“Jake came from the messy and troubled world of Manhattan’s public access television. After he was “discovered” by MTV and given his own show on that network, the public access “community” erupted in a sour grapes based vomit. Although his MTV venture wasn’t nearly as endearing as his no budget public access show, he managed to get this amazeballs guest spot to happen there, in his simulated bedroom.” – Alex Bag
[December 4 2015] : music
Alex Bag TV Takeover / Iggy Pop & David Bowie Interview on Dinah by Dinah
“When you’ve got demons, witches and warlocks hot on your trail, clearly the best course of action is to get the fuck out of LA and/ or Detroit, move to Berlin, and spend some quality time with Brian Eno.” – Alex Bag
[December 6 2015] : music
Alex Bag TV Takeover / Kathleen Hanna from Le Tigre and Bikini Kill on The Interview Show by The Interview Show
“After feeling like a stalker for 20 plus years, gathering scraps of paper that she’s written on and may have touched, being entranced by her various incarnations on stage, and burying her fingernail clippings in my backyard, I was happy and relieved, but not surprised, to see that she has a sense of humour. Thank Gods.” – Alex Bag
[December 8 2015] : music
Alex Bag TV Takeover / Patti Smith interviewed by Tom Snyder (1978) by Tomorrow
“Watch as even the crotchety old windbag Tom Snyder becomes transfixed and transmogrified by the tri-state area’s greatest living shamen. F.T.A.” – Alex Bag
