Spark checked out “Listening Post” on view at the San Jose Museum of Art from June 3 through November 26, 2006. Created by media artist Ben Rubin along with statistician Mark Hansen, “Listening Post” takes chat and messages from bulletin boards — thousands and thousands of messages in real time — and displays them on a suspended arc of 231 small text screens. In addition, voices from a text to speech synthesizer can be heard in the speakers that surround the exhibit. “Listening Post” won the 2004 Golden Nica Prize from ARS Electronica.

Based in New York City, Ben Rubin earned a B.A. from Brown University in 1987 and an M.S. in visual studies from the MIT Media Lab in 1989. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the MIT List Visual Arts Center, and the Skirball Center. He has collaborated with many other artists including Laurie Anderson and Ann Hamilton. Mr. Rubin teaches at the Yale School of Art.

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