{transcription}


a new media installation by:

Michael Takeo Magruder


part of:

Culture Bound - East Wing Collection 07
The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK
January 2006 until June 2007


about the work:

{ transcription } is a real-time media installation, specifically created for the Institute’s back six-level staircase. Consisting of dynamic audio/visual structures intermixed with static wall- drawn elements, the work reflects upon society's data-driven and information-saturated existence through the examination of international news communications.

An amalgamation of image and text parsed directly from the BBC’s live internet news service is algorithmically recombined into a semi-abstract visual array, which is then back-projected onto a horizontally suspended screen situated in the lowest well of the staircase. The ephemeral and constantly shifting visuals embody a machine-code aesthetic upon close examination, but re-alias into distinguishable, realistic forms as the spectator’s vantage point becomes more distant. Beneath the screen, a 5.1 surround sound system emanates a continuous and seemingly garbled newscast that rises and dissipates throughout the space. On the ceilings above the staircase landings, monochrome geometric abstract patterns are painted directly onto the surfaces. These images are visual translations of the equations responsible for creating the real-time audio/visual elements of the installation – scribed in a data-language that, like the fundamental components of the media itself, is opaque to human perception.