Christopher Baker
Hello World! Or: How I Learned to Stop Listening and Love the Noise is a large-scale audio visual installation comprised of thousands of video diaries gathered from the internet. Each of the 5,000 videos that make up the video installation features a single individual speaking candidly to an imagined audience from a private space such as a bedroom, kitchen, or dorm room. The multi-channel sound composition glides between individuals and the group, allowing viewers to listen in on individual speakers or become immersed in the overall cacophony.
The project is a meditation on the contemporary plight of democratic, participative media and the fundamental human desire to be heard. The artist Christopher Baker, who originally trained as a scientist, is inspired by the interconnectivities – visible and invisible – present in the 21st-century urban landscape and is interested in the practical implications of our increasingly networked lifestyles: ‘Primary to this task is an exploration of the ways we imagine and represent ourselves before (potentially massive) audiences and the ways we navigate and abide in public space. With these interests at heart, large-scale video projections allow me to create works that fuse existing physical spaces with more ephemeral digital elements, resulting in revelatory and sometimes disorienting forms.’