A new art installation at the Wexner Center gives the viewer a new look at political candidates and well-known figures from broadcast media.

Instead of showing people like President Barack Obama and Larry King during programs they have prepared, Harry Shearer’s exhibition “The Silent Echo Chamber,” shows them unscripted before they go live on television.

Harry Shearer is a well known artist, voice actor, and writer known for voicing Ned Flanders, Mr. Burns and others on “The Simpsons,” as well as his work on Saturday Night Live, and as Derek Smalls in “Spinal Tap,” which he co-directed.

“The Silent Echo Chamber” will play at the Wexner Cafe until Jan. 10, 2010. The installation features eight different television screens that play on a continuous loop that takes a little over 18 minutes to watch.

“There is no story. We never get to the point where you think about subject matter,” said Catharina Manchanda, Wexner Center Senior Curator of Exhibitions. “It’s more of a structural framework.”

The opportunity to see this type of footage is a privileged experience. Shearer’s footage comes from a broadcast satellite feed that only industry insiders have access to. Shearer first discovered these clips, which he calls “found objects,” while working for SNL, and was intrigued by these unscripted moments.

“The Silent Echo Chamber” was collected during the 2008 presidential campaign. Well-known political figures are seen preparing themselves to go live on air. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama can be seen staring straight ahead preparing as they try to compose themselves. David Gergen, Henry Kissinger, and James Carville are among others featured in the clips.

“He always cuts off that instant where they are truly going live. It’s all the moment of anticipation. It’s that time slot where people are trying to prepare themselves,” Manchanda said. “The variation is really fascinating. Some people are playing around with their handheld devices; others are reading the paper or eating something and others you can tell are really trying to prepare themselves.”

Broadcast figues Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams can be seen waiting to go live going about their own business as they wait. Williams fidgets with his phone while Brokaw stares ahead. At one point they are both on their cell phones. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper can be seen stretching and walking around as he waits for his queue.

“‘Silent Echo Chamber’ is what reverberates everything else around the political machinery, and the way in which the media is such an essential part of how we perceive news and events,” Manchanda said. “It’s fascinating to have all of this as an echo chamber in the background.”

The Wexner Cafe plays the film free of charge Mondays through Wednesdays, 8 a.m to 6 p.m, Thursdays, 8 a.m to 8 p.m, Saturdays 10 a.m to 8 p.m, and Sundays 11 a.m to 6 p.m.