countries, it reached probably the largest audience ever to have ‹taken part› in an art event.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Douglas Davis was one of the first artists to exploit new telecommunications technologies in order to establish dialogue communication situations. In «Talk Out!» (1972), which was broadcast live by WCNY-TV, he entered into conversation with his audience via a telephone and a printer. In the work produced since then, Davis has repeatedly tried to «de-mass» mass media such as television by re-purposing them in order to enable private, intimate dialogue with his audience.[31] As early as in 1976, Davis realized the world's first satellite project, «Seven Thoughts,» in the Houston Astrodome, at that time the world's largest roofed stadium. In the course of a ten-minute broadcast potentially able to be picked up by any Comsat-receiving television or radio station in the world, Davis delivered over microphone seven very personal thoughts to the completely deserted stadium. He emphasizes the importance of the «privacy of this broadcast»[32] and his wish to enter into personal contact with his

audience. This central concern is equally obvious in Davis «Austrian Tapes» (1974). With «Good Morning, Mr. Orwell,» on January 1 of the Orwellian 1984 Nam June Paik produced his first satellite performance with a feedback channel in the form of a television broadcast that could be received worldwide.[33]

Social networking, participation

Although the telecommunication and satellite projects of the 1970s were geared towards openness and participation, active participation was restricted to a small group of artists. Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz therefore missed the presence of a social, emancipatory element offering a potential alternative to mass media usage of the broadcasting media.[34] Neither artist was interested in telecommunication projects as elite «art events,» but emphasized the socio-political commitment behind their work: «We see communication and information systems as environments people live in,» said Rabinowitz. «So we look at the aesthetics of that environment, the shaping