San José Museum of Art

See what you think.

Listening Post

  • Small rectangular boxes glow with text messages. They become smaller from left to right. The boxes at the far right have smaller text that is undecipherable. As the boxes get closer to the left, the text enlarges and is easier to read.

    Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin, Listening Post (detail), 2002-2005. Supporting hardware and software, 146 x 233 x 31 inches. Collection of the San Jose Museum of Art, gift of Deborah and Andy Rappaport and the Lipman Family Foundation.

  • Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin, Listening Post, 2002-2005. Supporting hardware and software, 146 x 233 x 31 inches. Collection of the San Jose Museum of Art, gift of Deborah and Andy Rappaport and the Lipman Family Foundation.

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    The installation Listening Post by Mark Hansen and Ben Rubin analyzes all the text—typed just moments before—by tens of thousands of people in Internet chat rooms around the world. It presents them as six different “movements,” combining musical tones, sound effects, synthesized voice, and scrolling text.