KEY POINTS:
What would 100,000 people chatting online sound like?
That was the question artists Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen used as the starting point for Listening Post, a unique work of art on display at London's Science Museum.
The result is a visual and sonic installation that brings to life the way in which we communicate on the internet.
The artists have created a curved lattice of 231 small electronic screens, standing about 4m high and 5m wide.
The piece makes use of a computer system that trawls the internet for text from live internet chatrooms, message boards and other public forums, which it selects at random.
Visitors watch the words which flicker across the screens and disappear, at the same time as listening to a synthesised voice reading the messages aloud.
While the messages are random, the soundscape is divided into seven movements, with a guiding principle for each.
One movement selects only phrases that begin with "I am", the most popular way to start an internet post.
Other movements start with "I love" and "I like".
The movements last between 30 seconds and three minutes, varying in length each time they are repeated.
The work is completely uncensored, so four-letter words and sexual content may be displayed. The Science Museum has issued parental guidance for people planning to visit the exhibit but believes the lack of censorship is integral to the artistic endeavour.
Hannah Redler, head of art projects, said: "The artists are responding to the fact that everybody who goes online is asking for a response.
"Four-letter words can occur and phrases that most people would find offensive.
"It represents what's being said on the internet now."
The Science Museum first came across the exhibit, a marriage of art and science, when it was on show in Austria three years ago.
The decision was made to buy it for the permanent collection, at a cost of £130,000 ($317,500).
Ms Redler said: "We end up with this artwork that has managed to convey the content and magnitude of online communication.
"The patterns they have identified and the way they have chosen to present those take it beyond an online experience. It becomes a monument to internet chat.
"It's complex in its functionality but to see it gives you a window into online communication now and gives you a sense of how many people are expressing so many different thoughts, from the politically sensitive to the lecherous."
The artists said they were "thrilled and humbled" to have the work in the museum.
- INDEPENDENT
