Eavesdrop on private web chats

Conversations from thousands of internet chatrooms, message boards and other public forums have been transformed into an electronic art piece.

Described as a unique portrait of the internet, the electronic art - called the Listening Post – forms a free exhibition at the Science Museum in London.

The piece samples text fragments of uncensored and unedited internet conversations over 231 small electronic screens standing approximately 4m high and 5m wide. The text is accompanied by computer-synthesized voices reading or singing the words that surge, flicker and disappear over the screens.

Listening Post is a collaboration by sound artist Ben Rubin and statistician and artist Mark Hansen, who wanted to address the question: "What would 100,000 people chatting online sound like?". The piece first appeared in late 2002 in New York.

Artists Ben Rubin and Mark Hansen said: "We are thrilled and humbled to be able to show Listening Post at the Science Museum. To be seen alongside iconic classics such as Charles Babbage's Difference Engine and the Museum's extensive collection of artefacts from antique and modern telecommunications systems is an incredible context for our work."

Hannah Redler, head of Arts Projects at the Science Museum, added: "It is an awe-inspiring 'portrait of chat' that reveals people's most personal thoughts and most universal concerns. As a snapshot of the text-based internet, Listening Post may also have a finite lifespan inviting intriguing questions about the present and future of internet and web technologies, and even perhaps the nature of museum objects."

"Listening Post emerged from the messaging phenomenon of the solely text-based era of the internet over five years ago. Now, changes to forms of expression online, such as the proliferation of video and animation, will change the content source that 'Listening Post' relies upon, perhaps even rendering it silent one day."

Entry to the exhibition Listening Post is free of charge to all visitors of the Science Museum, which is open daily from 10am - 6pm.