Breaking news, live tickers, and tweets shape the daily flow of information in mass media. For media consumers, they create a sense of constant eventfulness. Crises, catastrophes, accidents, and wars follow one another, overlap, and blur together in a flood of media events. This climate of constant eventfulness diminishes the sudden impact of individual events and weakens their shock effect. Reports of disasters become a routine part of everyday media consumption. In the constant anticipation of the next event, shocking events give rise to a shocking sense of eventlessness.

The installation consists of three interconnected spatial elements that intersect with the existing architecture. The inscription »+++ Breaking News +++« is carved into a sand-lime brick, prominently displayed on a slightly raised white plinth. A second white curved surface features three pulsating plus signs backlit by LEDs. The three plus signs recall the conventions of telegraphic news transmission, now repurposed to mark breaking news in online journalism. Through their pulsation, they imbue the white surface with a sense of anticipation.

A surface transducer is mounted on the back of the third white surface, turning the surface itself into a loudspeaker diaphragm. A fragment of a breaking-news jingle plays on a continuous loop, creating an effect that is both meditative and unsettling. »DiDiDiDitDiDiDiDitDiDiDiDit …« Through its constant repetition, the acoustic signal that ordinarily announces a sudden event transforms into a disquieting sense of calm.