Hello World! Or: How I Learned to Stop Listening and Love the Noise (2008)
Multi-channel video projection, sound. Courtesy: the artist
Hello World! features thousands of video diaries gathered from the Internet. Each video consists of a single individual speaking to a potentially massive audience from a private space. The sound shifts between individuals and the group, allowing viewers to listen in on unique speakers or become immersed in the cacophony of oices. Hello World! explores the potential and reality of Web 2.0 technologies and social media. On the one hand, sites such as YouTube promise to create a participatory, democratizing platform that answers to the human desire to be heard. On the other hand, the sheer mass of public speakers makes it impossible to listen to all the individual voices. Baker’s project questions the language of media, its possibilities for participation and agency, and the democratic process.
