SPEAKERSCORNER
Huddersfield UK
2000-2001
promo
video
permanent media artwork
Opdrachtgever :
Kirklees Media Centre
Public Arts
gerealiseerd
A 15-metre-long text display has been attached to the front of the Kirklees
Media Centre in Hudders-field that consists of a constant stream of words.
News and views flash by along with poetry, political statements, talking
about the weather and obscure messages.
Where do all these texts come from? Most of them come from the Internet.
People send their texts via the Speakers' Corner website. This can take
the form of commenting on a particular discussion subject (which is a
part of the site), reacting to what other people have said or some arbitrary
idea or rant.
Some texts are also provided by passers-by who use the microphone on the
street booth located across the junction opposite the text display. There
are also links to other Internet artworks that are based on text. These
links are activated when there is no input from the street or from the
Internet.
This veritable Tower of Babel is displayed across the front of the Media
Centre, and can also be seen and heard on the Speakers' Corner website.
As an artwork on the Internet, it makes each moment both visible and audible:
the bustle of data, miscommunication and the desire for contact. This
is a place where private and public merge.
Speakers' Corner is a permanent artwork by Jaap de Jonge. It was initiated
by Kirklees Media Centre (Huddersfield) in co-operation with Public Arts
and with the financial backing of the National Arts Lottery.
www.speakerscorner.org.uk
http://www.amodal.net/precedents.html
http://netartreview.net/weeklyFeatures
/2005_06_05_archive.html
