Acts in Translation
By Dalena Tran
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Acts in Translation (2020) is a generative moving image and sound installation featuring two windows having a moment together. Eighty ambient recordings contributed from thirty-seven cities worldwide are randomly sequenced to produce a unique soundscape on each page visit. The image remains relatively still as the viewer gazes through the panel windows into the intimate. The stable image and the randomized sound merge to create a simultaneously shared and unique urban life sentiment for the viewer. A call to prayer in Tehran pairs with London’s traffic to conjure a city that is as familiar as it is foreign. Each hour, in Universal Coordinated Time, a story about a “broken heart” emerges. This story operates as an entendre, using misunderstanding to address the complexity of language and culture.
