Heart Beat at BALTIC comments on the use, control and overdose of information in the era of global exchange. Toguo believes that the media is all consuming, even intoxicating. He explains: “For me information is primordial. I’ve got the radio on all day. I like to read newspaper headlines and compare them according to their political sympathies. It’s a vital need to know what’s going on in the entire world. That overdose of information, scoops, scandals, disinformation naturally inspires me a lot.You need to step back, however vis-à-vis the information, the press, precisely in order to disassociate the real infofrom the disinformation. But disinformation is a wonderful source of inspiration!”For Heart Beat, Toguo, in collaboration with local students has “censored” pages from a UK daily broadsheet newspaper, removing the text and leaving only the images. This “democratic” action creates a new face for the newspaper page, allowing for new readings and asking us to question the information we receive. The project is a development of his previous work, Die Tageszeitung: conversation avec Frau Schenkenberg. As a student in Düsseldorf, Germany unable to speak the language, Toguo communicated with his elderly German neighbour by removing sections of text from her daily newspaper. At BALTIC the “censored” newspapers cover the walls creating a backdrop for works including watercolours from the ongoing Dreamcatcher series.
