Video Commission 2008

Covert Hypnosis in Politics


This video is a mashup depiction of Senator John F. Kennedy (D-MA) and Vice President Richard Nixon (R-CA) delivering their introduction speeches at the first televised presidential debate (1960) in U.S. history. The candidates’ images are overlaid, moving together in a hypnotic manner. By recontextualizing this early use of technology in politics, we are able to consider the electoral process in a new way.