RECORDING RECOLLECTIONS

Beirut, Lebanon | January 2020

Google Live Transcribe records the recollection of a legal document. As part of Lebanese foreign affairs protocol, a group of us were required to register ourselves for a residence permit. During the undertaking, we were required to sign a document titled ‘Conditions of Responsibility’. We had been asked to leave our belongings, including our phones, at the entrance, and it was not possible to make any kind of documentation. The only thing to carry away was the memory of the experience.

I interviewed those who had accompanied me, to describe the contents of the same document. I recorded their testimonies using the Google live transcription app. Interestingly, all the voices described the same content but the algorithms erred to produce slightly altered iterations of it. As a result, the implied legal weight of the original document took to absurd and humorous renditions. Below are screen recordings of a few iterations.