Foreign Voices, Common Stories at the 2010 cultural olympiad

CODE Live Opening Celebration – February 4, 2010

The opening of the CODE Live Exhibition and over 40 installations on February 4th 2010 at Emily Carr University on Granville Island and the Centre for Digital Media (Great Northen Way Campus).

Analogue Nostalgia is a proud participant in the 2010 Cultural Olympiad and will be presenting its new installation Foreign Voices, Common Stories at Code 1.

Where: 577 Great Northern Way, Vancouver

When: Sunday through Wednesday 10:00 am to 8:00 pm.; Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm.

Project description: Walls of 1980s analog boom boxes, commonly known as ghetto blasters, create an immediate nostalgia as the viewer enters the installation space. Each tape deck is equipped with motion detectors to react to the presence of visitors. A myriad of stories from around the world revealing why ghetto blasters are significant cultural icons erupt from the boom boxes, using MP3 players as the source, the boom boxes as the amplification and speaker system for the messages. The ubiquitous use of such decks, which were marketed globally, although different in design, produced a sameness in cultures often called globalization, but as one listens to the radios, differences in the stories and experiences begin to register. The recordings are in several different languages as well as English, but there is also a set of recordings in foreign versions of English as a commentary on the fact that Pidgen English will soon be one of the most spoken languages in the world. Being able to tape one’s own music and share it easily and portably was an authentic way to share tastes and cultural differences in a democratic distribution. Cultural loss, cultural gain and the cultural mosaic are the subjects of this installation.