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TRANSLATED BY
A Unique Audio Installation Featuring Work by 11 International Authors at the AA School
15 Jan – 9 Feb 2011, the ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE. Private view with live readings
14 January 1830 – 2030
Featuring - Douglas Coupland, Rana Dasgupta, Julian Gracq, Hu Fang, Jonathan Lethem, Guy Mannes-Abbott, Sophia Al Maria, Hisham Matar, Tom McCarthy, Adania Shibli, Neal Stephenson
Curated by Charles Arsène-Henry & Shumon Basar
You want to listen first and see second. So you enter the room. It looks empty. It looks silent.
Someone in their early twenties hands you a black pamphlet and a pair of studio-styled headphones attached to a small electronic device. They tell you ‘Press one to eleven’ and point to something that resembles an album track-listing, except there are writers’ names instead of bands, and locations instead of songs. Strange?
You recognise some of the authors. Should you ignore the others? You enjoy familiarity but crave the unknown. The kid resumes their instructions. ‘You’ll see numbered images on the wall. They go with the audio.’ You want to know what the relationship is between the sound and the image. Kid says, ‘Translation.’
You strap on the headphones. You pick a random number and press play. You look for the same number on the wall. You see the image and you find next to it a beat up office chair dragged from the street. A voice arises in your ears. You sit on the chair. You listen. And you arrive on Atlantic Avenue, between Nevins and Third, Brooklyn.
Time passes, the voice disappears and you wonder where you’d end up next.
So you go for another track, another seat, another voice, a different place.
Now on a stumpy little stool, part donut, part brass instrument, you hear a little girl’s voice. You’re lost in the Sheraton Hotel, there in the photo. An Aztec spaceship surrounded by Doha’s desert.
You realise you’ve entered a mixtape of space and time. A compilation of places, that’s you. Tripoli, Ramallah, Les Ardennes. Years pass. Sofia, Brixton. Qalandia Crossing, The Metaverse. A garden. A few minutes more. Track 11. You’re now in Vancouver and the world is ending.
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An accompanying publication, by Bedford Press, include all the texts as well as essays by the curators and is available from 9 February 2010 from the AA Bookshop, and all good bookshops.
Translated By
15 January – 9 February 2011
AA Gallery, 36 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3ES.
A private view with live readings of the selected text takes place on 14 January 1830 – 2030.
Opening times: Monday to Friday 10.00am – 7.00pm; Saturday 10.00am – 3.00pm
Entrance is FREE
Writers of Translated By :
- Douglas Coupland (1961) lives in Vancouver.
- Rana Dasgupta (1971) lives in Dehli.
- Julien Gracq (1910 - 2007) lived in Saint-Florent-le-Vieil.
- Hu Fang (1970) lives in Guangzhou
- Jonathan Lethem (1964) lives in Claremont, Los Angeles.
- Guy Mannes-Abbott (1963) lives in London.
- Sophia Al Maria (1983) lives in Doha.
- Hisham Matar (1970) lives in London.
- Tom McCarthy (1969) lives in London and New York.
- Adania Shibli (1974) lives in London and Jerusalem.
- Neal Stephenson (1959) lives in Seattle.
Press information
Will Kallaway, 020 7221 7883 / william.kallaway@kallaway.com
About the AA School
The ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTUREis the world’s most renowned international and influential school of architecture. Since 1847 it has pioneered a belief in architecture as profession, culture and form of human enquiry and is credited with fostering the creation of worldwide leaders of architecture.
AA School alumni include architectural leaders Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Lord Rogers, Will Alsop and many others. Through its unique, year-long, unit based system of teaching, direct intervention in cities and its intensively collaborative team based approach to learning, the school brings together disconnected worlds, fresh ideas and inspiring insights. The AA School is celebrated worldwide as an imaginative setting for architectural culture.
Curators:
Charles Arsène-Henry
Charles Arsène-Henry is an editor and writer. In 2009, he founded the agence de pensée White Box Black Box, which inquires into the different formats of research and fiction. In 2010, he taught a unit at the AA Summer School where students produced a collective fiction set in an imaginary London where night has disappeared.
Shumon Basar
Shumon Basar is a writer, editor, curator and director of the Cultural Programme at the AA, where he has co-curated the exhibitions 'Can Buildings Curate' (2005) and 'The World of Madelon Vriesendorp' (2008). He is currently working on a novel entitled 'World!World!World!'
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