The exhibition Beckett on Television brings together for the first time Samuel Beckett’s seven seminal German television works, alongside works by contemporary artists and newly discovered photographs and archival documents. Made for the Stuttgart-based broadcasting corporation Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR) between 1966 and 1985, He, Joe, 1966, Geistertrio, 1977, … nur noch Gewölk …, 1977, Quad I and II, 1981, Nacht und Träume, 1982, and Was Wo, 1985, have left a legacy which has been widely acknowledged but never been properly historicised. Through what he called his ‘crazy inventions for TV’, Beckett invented an entirely new language, one made up of images and spaces.

Central to the exhibition are the newly discovered photographs and documents on loan from SWR Historisches Archiv that chronicle in detail Beckett’s working methods at the television station over a period spanning more than twenty years. Production notebooks, letters, call sheets and behind the scenes photographs, capture Beckett directing performers, specifying camera angles, and engaging in conversation with crew members.

The most significant aspect of this legacy is inarguably the enormous influence Beckett’s German television works have yielded upon contemporary art.  A selection of contemporary film and video works that directly respond to the themes explored by Beckett at SDR will be shown alongside his television works for the first time.