overdiek | 
10 31st, 2007| 
The call came early in the morning. Can you go to Tate Modern and go down the slide? Sure, never too old for that. So there I went, backpacking on the train, the tube and then a ten minute walk down to the Thames. Tate Modern had just opened a new exhibit, Test Site by Carsten H”oller.
Deadlines were looming. Radio wanted a piece, television needed a short package. I have experienced that time pressure can be the best way to get things right, right away. No time to think, no room for trying things out. First take has to be on the spot.
And that’s what happened. Within two hours I had taped the ’slide show’ and also recorded it for radio. Went down three times (it’s a dirty job, I know, and I am that someone). Edited my radio stuff in the coffee shop and sent it thanks to mobile internet ten minutes before air time.
Colleagues who saw me that evening making a fool of myself, didn’t think this kind of participatory journalism would be helpful for my image as a serious foreign correspondent. Ha ha. To hell with them.