Thanks Sharon (2001-2003) is a video improvisation using the sanitized nature of the local evening newscast as source material. The piece examines an aspect of newscasts known as the throw, when one anchor or reporter throws the newscast back to his or her colleague. More times than not, the throw is followed with thanks Bob or thank you Sharon spoken through a fake smile stretched across an anchor's face.

In 2000, I collected tapes of local newscasts from Seattle, New York, Minnesota, N. Carolina and of course, Los Angeles. The generic qualities and lack of cultural imprints found in the newscasts was fascinating to me. Local newscasts generally follow a cookie cutter format utilizing overblown graphics, Barbie and Ken doll anchors, and the special moment when the actors in these polished mini theaters thank one another for a job well done.

The performance of Thanks Sharon is an improvisation using the computer program Image/ine, developed at STEIM in Amsterdam, for video processing and Max/MSP for audio processing. One QuickTime movie is used as source material providing a common thread for improvisation. The movie, loaded inside Image/ine, is comprised of about thirty clips from local newscasts and is controlled in real time via a Max patch and a Peavey 1600x. The audio from the QuickTime movie provides the only sonic material and is continually processed through the Max patch. The patch also controls Image/ine's movie parameters including the playback speed, direction, loop length, loop location, and others.