‘hello world! or: how i learned to stop listening and love the noise’ by christopher baker, on exhibition at london’s saatchi gallery

chicago-based visual artist christopher baker‘s video installation ‘hello world! or: how i learned to stop listening and love the noise’ is now on display at the duke of york square screening room at london’s saatchi gallery. the artist’s massive video-graphical work consisting of 5,000 video diaries projected upon a wall within the gallery space. the personal video collection of ‘hello world’ was compiled through the use of online self-produced video archive resources such as youtube.

the visual installation is a reflection upon both the nature of highly evolved contemporary, participative media and the essential human desire of self-expression and recognition. each video pictures an anonymous speaker speaking to an imagined audience on a variety of topics with her/his kitchen, living room, bedroom or dorm room as the backdrop. the monologue of every speaker takes place in a physically private space, yet, their meaningful speech becomes entirely accessible by the public through the internet.

in the gallery space the observer may interact with the soundscape in two distinct ways: he/she may focus in upon an individual voice or get lost in the rumble of the thousands of video diaries on display. in this way, the at-once singular and overwhelming quality to baker’s work is consistent with human sentiment towards the internet and democratic, modern media.

christopher baker: hello world! video diary installation installation view

christopher baker: hello world! video diary installation

christopher baker: hello world! video diary installation exhibition view of a previous installation of the project

christopher baker: hello world! video diary installation

christopher baker: hello world! video diary installation

christopher baker: hello world! video diary installation

video explanation of ‘hello world! or: how i learned to stop listening and love the noise’