Watch in a bright room and at a safe distance from the TV! at The Trophy Room

In 1997, an episode of Pokémon was televised in Japan which featured rapid flickering red and blue frames which caused hundreds of children to have seizures, and in some cases epileptic fits. 685 were hospitalised. The phenomenon was widely known as Pokémon Shock. Though the footage itself was partly to blame for this, it was also exacerbated by the fact many were watching the episode close to their screens in dark rooms thus intensifying the strobing effect. Following this event, many animes, and some still to this day, display a message at the start which reads: Watch in a bright room and at a safe distance from the TV!

In considering the accessibility and advantage that internet based video platforms offer to artists working in digital video in order to share their work; what is often overlooked is the sometimes un-ideal, and arguably unhealthy, setting in which such things are then being watched: on a laptop in bed, on an office computer, on a mobile phone… Putting eye strain aside, what is common with these scenarios is that it is usually either being done alone, surrounded by distractions, or lost amongst a barrage of content. Watch in a bright room and at a safe distance from the TV! at The Trophy Room in Liverpool will follow its titular instruction, simply presenting new video works by both Agil Abdullayev and Wendy Asumadu in a clear, concentrated, and collective environment.