CAC TV was a TV programme by Contemporary Art Centre (CAC), Vilnius broadcast on TV1, a commercial TV channel in Lithuania, between 2004 and 2007. Currently available on Youtube are 10 episodes in English:

CAC TV Episode One
October 20, 2004: season one, episode one. The very first broadcast of a reality meta-show – a TV program about making a TV program. The show documents the preview of its own trailer.

Second Episode of the Reality Meta-show
After the failure of the first episode the producers embark on a search for someone smarter and in general more suitable than themselves to make the program
Forst broadcast: 24 November 2004

Third Episode of CAC TV’s Reality Meta-show
Is television a game for children?
First broadcast: 22 December 2004

Deimantas Narkevičius for CAC TV
Lithuanian art critic Alfonsas Andriuškevičius discusses monuments in the background of Deimantas Narkevičius film ‘Countryman’ (2002).
First broadcast: 16 February 2005

CAC TV: Monumaction
A take on Vilnius’ monuments by artist Julieta Aranda and CAC TV’s Raimundas Malašauskas.
First broadcast: 21 September 2005

CAC TV: Hesdalen Phenomenon
Is contemporary art like UFO? Filmed in Norway with students of Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas at Trondheim Academy of Fine Art.
First broadcast: 18 October 2006

CAC TV: Populism
Made in relation to the exhibition ‘Populism’ at the CAC (2005) and the ‘11 rules for box office appeal‘ by Preston Sturges.
First broadcast: 15 April 2005

CAC TV: Episode for the Sleeping Audience
The producers’ attempt to face their fear that their late night broadcasts are only ever watched by sleeping audience: Eglė Budvytytė’s edit of previously shot but unused footage.
First broadcast: 1 November 2006

Salo for Television
An abridged version of ‘Salo‘ (2006) by Rene Gabri who, with CAC TV’s Raimundas Malašauskas, revisits Passolini and the former capital of Mussolini’s Italian Social Republic.
First broadcast: 22 February 2006

Mirjam Wirz for CAC TV
A letter noir to the City Mayor by the Swiss artist Mirjam Wirz who organised a series of ‘Flash Bars’ in Vilnius between 2006 and 2008.
First broadcast: 13 December 2006

Please click on this link to watch 12 episodes currently available in Lithuanian.

Frequently Given Responses about CAC TV (September 2004):

CAC TV: Every program is a pilot. Every program is the final episode.

Tagline:
An amorphous group of social misfits and cultural outcasts are handed the reigns of a fledgling television programme. Not having any experience in making television, they decide to re-invent the medium.

Synopsis:
A time-slot for imagining alternate realities.

– It is a new project of the Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius.

– It is a TV program about making a TV program.

– It is produced by artists and television enthusiasts worldwide.

– Yes, the interest has been surprising. In fact, it had an official review of 1500 words in the cultural weekly Šiaurės Atėnai before it went to an editing room.

– No, we prefer talking heads being inside the soundtrack instead of on the screen.

– Actually, it introduces the genre of reality meta-show both as a deconstruction of the format of reality (programing) and as an attempt to create one’s own (reality)(programing)(reality-programing).

– Well, one possible premise would be to imagine what kind of television could be produced if we were to invite a group of thinkers (i.e. Pierre Bourdieu, Avital Ronell, Paul Virilio, Raymond Williams, and Jacques Derrida) to collaborate with a rotating cast of artists, cable-access producers, anti-capitalists, tele-evangelists, and day time talk show hosts.

– Failure is the underwriter of this program, and cancellation is one of several goals we set, before we can call this a success.

– Yes, it follows the adventures of strangers, fans and TV-sceptics inside TV-land through planned accidents and unscripted actions.

– Good question. The show consists of two basic formats: the broadcast version (including a showcase of artists films, games and devices) and TVlog (www.cac.lt/tv).

– It dreams of turning audience members and spectators into an active public, possibly even producers. It dreams of inducing wakefulness and tapping into the inherent power of the multitude to counter the sleep inducing nonsense that often passes as entertainment. Activating the creativity and critical skills of the viewer while still remaining watch-able. You know what we mean?

– We would not be doing it if we didn’t think that it would be an invitation to the viewers/participants to dream together.

– Believe it or not, it airs once a week on TV1, a commercial TV channel in Lithuania.

– It lasts 30 minutes minus a commercial break.

– Yes, the obligatory website plug: http://www.cac.lt/tv where you can find much more including The First Episode: Behind The Scenes (featuring the unforgettable performances of Egle Rakauskaite and Evaldas Jansas as well as editing by Maria Bustnes), which premiered in Lithuania in October 2004 and received a number of enthusiastic reactions including the famous "Beavis and Butthead doing Dogma in Vilnius…"

– Yes, this reminds me of a dream I had during the LA riots in which the police were carrying television sets instead of guns. And instead of threatening people with lethal force, they induced them into a strange slumber by zapping them with programs from central command.

– Thanks, we truly are hoping to meet you online or on air. We also look forward to your suggestions for films as well as ideas and proposals for CAC TV.

Raimundas Malašauskas, Rene Gabri

Illustration: Povilas Utovka, CAC TV poster, 2004