Pervasive mass-media in the information age offers us a continuous stream of mediated realities. Countless events of varying and often questionable significance emerge as scrolling columns of headline news and then quickly fade into the soon-forgotten annals of our time.
Within this saturated datascape of history, there are singular defining moments that rise above the ubiquitous monotony of the everyday. These events shape the consciousness of individuals and nations alike by transcending their epoch, and are indelibly situated within greater historical overviews that inform the perceptions of both present and future generations.
In an era of unjust wars and monumental acts of terror, some of these events have eroded our most precious institutions and sustained fear within all strata of society, while others have instilled within us hope and offered us a means to reconcile our past transgressions.
Reflection (hope and reconciliation) re-mediates one such moment. Through the distillation of its aesthetic elements – images, words, voice, music – we experience the event with changed, but undiminished intensity.
[audio/video] High definition video recording of Barack Obama’s victory address at his presidential election night rally in Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, USA on 04.11.2008. The AV stream was obtained from Mininova.org torrent search. It was posted by an unnamed individual on 05.11.2008 at 07:04 GMT and was seeded by 4000+ users within hours of its release.
[text] An exact transcript of the victory speech published by the BBC Internet news service on 05.11.2008 at 07:02 GMT.
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The other 66,760,923 American citizens that voted to bring about this change.
Hugh Denard + David Steele ( discourse ) . Jo-Anne Green + Helen Thorington ( distribution )