These portraits depict people throughout Boston sitting in their living rooms, silently staring at the video camera as though it were a TV set.
"[3] Originally, Viola wanted the video portraits to be presented once every hour for a two-week period in one-minute segments with "no label, no title, or anything" attached to them.
Viola claims that such a long duration, as well as an absence of identifying information, was crucial to the piece, since the work was meant to be a disruption of the normal viewing experience of television.
The station also refused to broadcast the videos without a title, requesting that Viola include a full description of the piece at the beginning of each clip.
A series of portrait recordings were made of people sitting in their homes, staring in silence at the camera.