Egon Bunne
«VAMP – video art magazin productions»

Since the launch of private cable TV, Germany's political bodies have ensured the installation of a number of non-commercial ‘windows' regularly permitting television broadcasts of a different slant. Germany's most famous example is Alexander Kluge. Another such window is the video-art magazine ‘VAMP', which was initiated by Egon Bunne. Produced at irregular intervals, it has become an established fixture in the programme of the private Berlin cable broadcaster FAB (‘Fernsehen aus Berlin'), whose policy offers niches to productions with an alternative slant. Commissioned by the Berlin-based ‘Verein für VideoKunst und Multimedia', the low-budget magazine is put together mainly by the producer and his associates, with the assistance of the Cologne Academy of Media. Filmmaker Wilhelm Hein delivered a statement on the occasion of the 5th anniversary broadcast in 1996, which was composed of re-mixed videotapes transmitted in the programme's history. The personal style of its making, its unbroken record of some 80 broadcasts, and its uncompromising commitment to artists' video, makes this magazine unique in the German television landscape.

Rudolf Frieling