Rebecca McIntosh Love TV Interview

Rebecca McIntosh Love TV Interview

Love TV is a unique, bold and engaging interactive live art project that is winning hearts globally.

The project sees enigmatic hostess, Aphrodite (artist Rebecca McIntosh) entice well-known celebrities, musicians, local heroes and members of the community into her make-shift studio. McIntosh's installation, a hot pink TV-shaped mobile theatre transforms itself into a space for creative conversation, as Love TV provides the rare opportunity for anyone and everyone to have a voice.

The original concept of Love TV was created and presented by artist Rebecca McIntosh from Broome to Bali, Adelaide to Edinburgh, the Sydney Festival to Melbourne Comedy Festival. More recently, a collaboration with creative producer Victoria Johnstone has developed LOVE TV into this new and innovative model for community engagement as a way to explore identity, diversity and the universal subject of love.

Prior to each Love TV performance, local residents are encouraged to nominate online at www.lovetv.com.au which celebrities, artists, history-makers and creatives they would like to see share the story of their own personal love affair with their respective city. Based on these nominations, Aphrodite will conduct intimate and spontaneous conversations with nominated personalities as well as passers-by. Interviewees will be given a public forum to express their most cherished corners, loved locations, and ultimately cracking open the heart of the city with their shared stories.

Love TV made its Brisbane debut in December, featuring interviews with the likes of Powderfinger lead guitarist, Ian Haug and indigenous artist, Richard Bell. Nominations are now open for who the public would like to see interviewed publicly and beamed live onto a big screen for everyone to enjoy. To nominate your favourite personality for the March dates below, simply head to www.lovetv.com.au.

Love TV Brisbane
9th of March at 7.30pm: Rumpus Room, 56 Russel St., West End
10th of March at 10am: Davies Park Market, Montague Rd., West End
16thof March at 8pm: The Greenhouse, Queensland Theatre Company, Bille Brown Studio, 78 Montague Rd., South Brisbane

Interview with Rebecca McIntosh

Question: What is Love TV?

Rebecca McIntosh: Love TV is my life's work, it's concept that I have been exploring and evolving for ten years now.

It's about the art of conversation and creating the most intimate conversation in the most public space.
During the live art installation in which I play the Goddess Aphrodite, I invite participants to join me one at a time in my clam to be interviewed about Love, my clam is inside an enormous Hot Pink TV which is a mobile booth. These conversations are filmed and broadcast live to the audience outside.

Before the live event we invest a lot of time in inviting the community whose public space the work is being presented in, to participate by coming on the show, or nominating someone they admire from their community to join Aphrodite for a chat about what they are passionate about.

We then edit the best of the interviews for viewing via our website.
LOVE TV has had a massive influence on my life, it's how I met my husband, it's allowed me to work at all of Australia's major cultural events and now it's taking me to New York!


Question: How did you come up with the idea for Love TV?

Rebecca McIntosh: Initially it was a photographic project I was working on with the photographer Sophie Howarth in which we were exploring ancient goddess archetypes in the modern world.
I would try and embody these different characters like, Kale, Hecate, Mother Mary and then experiment with how the everyday world responded to them by venturing out into public spaces, Sophie would capture it with her lens.
As part of this project, one morning I washed up on Bondi Beach as Aphrodite and I had to get to the fountain in Kings Cross by midnight. It was an amazing experience being this character and negotiating public transport and the busy city lugging my clam behind me.

But what was really interesting was how people were interacting with me and what they were saying. So then I was inspired to go out as Aphrodite into public spaces and interview people about love with a video camera and record the conversations I was having.


Question: How can locals be involved in Love TV?

Rebecca McIntosh: They nominate themselves on the LOVE TV website www.lovetv.com.au or nominate others that they want to see involved.


Question: Can you share with us one of the most surprising and intimate conversation you've had with a Love TV personality?

Rebecca McIntosh: One of my favorite conversations is with Noel Fielding from the Mighty Boosh. He is just so gorgeous and playful yet genuinely shy about disclosing his love story. Mirka Moira the famous Australian painter entered my clam aged 78 and she showed me age has nothing to do with being sexy, vital and living a full creative life, with advice on how to find out if a man is well hung! US author Augusten Burroughs was also an incredible interview where he discussed with me how he was abused as a child and the lasting affect it has had on him today.


Question: How was it talking with Powderfinger lead guitarist, Ian Haug?

Rebecca McIntosh: I love the 'fingers', they are all spunks and it was exciting getting Haug's in the clam! It was a very family-friendly event I was interviewing him at so I think he was a little disappointed we didn't get to have a really good AO yarn about love! But he bought his beautiful family on the show, which he is very proud of.


Question: Who else have you had in Love TV mobile theatre?

Rebecca McIntosh: Claudia Karven, John Safran, Paul Meccurio, Andy Bull, Ernie Dingo, Ben Ely, Christos Tsiolkas, Rutgher Hauer (Bladerunner), Anna McGahn (Underbelly), Richard Bell (artist), Damien Walsh Howling, Julia Zemiro, Alan Brough, Clover Moore (Sydney Mayor), Sam Pang, Dan Kelly, the list goes on!


Question: Who has been nominated for the upcoming March dates?

Rebecca McIntosh: People have been nominating many interesting and diverse people from the local neighborhood, artists, Like Wesley Enoch the Artistic Director Of Qld Theatre Company, musicians like Ben from Six Foot Hick, actors like Bille Brown who the theatre at QTC is named after, authors such as Krissy Keen and Jeff the Gypsy from the famous Gypsy Coffee Cart down at Davies park Market.


Question: Can you share some of your most cherished corners and loved locations?

Rebecca McIntosh: I'm living in Brisbane at the moment and there is a new fantastic sculpture up at Kangaroo point. It's actually Venus rising and it's a great big twisting curl of steel... I love sitting inside of it. I also love Boundary St, West End (which is also one of the sites for the upcoming Love TV shows) as there are so many intriguing characters around there. I also love walking across the Story Bridge at Sunset and seeing all the City lights and mountains in the distance.


Question: Will Love TV be travelling to other states in Australia?

Rebecca McIntosh: Our next stop is New York where we are working with New York Department of Transport and presenting LOVE TV through the five boroughs over Summer this year. It will be massive!


Question: Are passers-by happy to express their most cherished corners?

Rebecca McIntosh: Yes, LOVE TV is a free public installation and everyone is invited to join the goddess for a chat!


Interview by Brooke Hunter