Photo: Danko Stjepanovic
Artwork Details:
Artist(s)
Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige
Title
The Golden Record
Date
2011
Medium
Video installation and frieze
Dimensions
Frieze length 300 cm
Duration
19 minutes
Edition
5/6 + 2AP
Credit
Co-produced by The Lyon Biennale
Photo Caption
The Golden Record
From ‘The Lebanese Rocket Society, A tribute to dreamers’
The Golden Record (2011) is a nineteen-minute sound collage accompanied by a video of a spinning gold disc based on the memories of members of the Lebanese Rocket Society. The group, led by Manoug Manougian, and consisting of scientists, students and army experts, embedded radio transmitters in Cedar rockets to track their path, transmitting messages on radio waves in the 1960s. A few years later, in 1977, American space exploration missions Voyager 1 and 2 carried sound and image messages engraved on golden records, representing life, history, and culture on Earth as interstellar greetings of peace and liberty. Resembling a time capsule, the records portray a visual and auditory depiction of Beirut and the global atmosphere during the 1960s.
