Museum admission is free
galleries opening today at 11AM
Hammer Channel

Watch 1,000+ talks, performances, artist profiles, and more.

Go to Hammer Channel
Collections
Collage of five diverse artworks from the Hammer Museum Collections side by side. From left to right: 1) Contemporary painting of two embracing figures with surreal elements. 2) Post-impressionist style painting of trees with vibrant blues and greens. 3) Black and white illustration of a face with intricate patterns. 4) Japanese woodblock print style image of a figure in a checkered robe. 5) Photograph of a couple dancing, the woman in a black dress and the man in white

See 50,000+ objects, including prints, photographs, paintings, and more.

Go to Hammer Collections
Digital Archive Take It or Leave It: Institution, Image, Ideology
Art Gretchen Bender, Artificial Treatment
Artificial Treatment, by Gretchen Bender, 1988

Gretchen Bender, Artist
Artificial Treatment , 1988

Medium
Audio
Dimensions
2:44 min.
Credit Line
Harvestworks Digital Media Arts / TELLUS #21. Installation view at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; photography by Brian Forrest

A news announcer reading the story of a comatose woman and her family's struggle with end-of-life questions repeats the details, take after take. Bender's use of an unedited recording that includes the news announcer's discussions with her producer is a meditation on the violently flattening effect of repetition.

Listen to Artificial Treatment on UbuWeb.