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TRANSLATED BY

TRANSLATED BY Ted Chiang, Douglas Coupland, Rana Dasgupta, Julien Gracq, Yasunari Kawabata, Jonathan Lethem, Sophia Al Maria, Hisham Matar, Tom McCarthy, David Peace and Neal Stephenson

You press the intercom. A voice asks you to wait. In a minute’s time, they let you inside. It looks empty, silent. Dark.

On the wall, you see simple instructions, and something that resembles an album track-listing. Except. There are writer’s names instead of bands. Locations instead of songs. Strange?

You pick up a pair of studio-styled headphones attached to a small electronic device. The ghost of a forest runs through the darkened air. It feels like night.

You strap on the headphones. Enter the first room. There’s a number on the wall, spot-lit by a beam coming from the floor. You press the number on your device. A voice arises in your ears. Crackles, hiss. You’re on Atlantic Avenue, between Nevins and Third. It’s Brooklyn. 1971.

You feel time pass. A smell of pine persists. The voice disappears. You wonder where you’ll end up next. Another track, a different voice. You’re following a six-year-old girl lost in a Sheraton Hotel in the late 80s. An Aztec mother-ship in Doha’s desert.

You realize you’ve entered a mix-tape of space and time that’s 11 tracks long. A compilation of places, that’s you. Tripoli, Tokyo, Les Ardennes. Years pass. Sofia, Brixton. An alternate self. A night train in Yuzawa. The Metaverse. Few minutes more. Until West Vancouver. Where the world is ending.

Curated by Charles Arsene-Henry& Shumon Basar

Translated By was originally commissioned by the AA School, London, and shown 15 January – 9 February 2011, accompanied by a book published by Bedford Press.

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