The Revolution Has Been Televised, 2016
Neon light / Blue screen Acryllic Paint
This seemingly simple statement evokes several questions: which
revolutions were televised? Which parts of the revolutions were
broadcasted? Which were kept under wraps? Who controls the image
production? To what extent are the images staged?
A pun of The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, a poem and song by Gil Scott-Heron, which he recorded for his album Small Talk at 125th and Lenox in 1970. The song's title was originally a popular slogan among the 1960s Black Power movements in the United States. Its lyrics either
mention or allude to several television series, advertising slogans, and icons of entertainment and news coverage that serve as examples of what the revolution will not be or cause.
...The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruption
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
Blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John Mitchell
General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
Hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary
The revolution will not be televised
The revolution will be brought to you by the Schaefer Award Theatre and
will not star Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
Thinner, because The revolution will not be televised, Brother
There will be no pictures of you and Willie Mays
Pushing that cart down the block on the dead run
Or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance
NBC will not predict the winner at 8:32or the count from 29 districts
The revolution will not be televised
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
Brothers in the instant replay
There will be no pictures of young being
Run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process
There will be no slow motion or still life of
Roy Wilkens strolling through Watts in a red, black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the right occasion
Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and
Hooterville Junction will no longer be so damned relevant
and Women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day
The revolution will not be televised...
