IMPARTIAL SPECTRUM

TYPE
80 inkjet panels, 170 x 60 cm., double-sided 4-color print

YEAR
2019

PLACE
Porto, Portugal

How can a society have an informed understanding of world events? Impartial Spectrum is an exploration of news culture, in which notions of journalistic neutrality and the framing of global affairs are explored. This research project collects and compares different publication behaviors by international news media. Four subjects are selected as case studies to be presented in this iteration: climate crisis, Hong Kong protests, anti-abortion movement, and tourism. The selection is based on the subjects' controversial and global narratives that have been covered in a wide range of forms, as well as a consequence of the engagement with both locals and visitors of Porto.

The installation of 80 prints in the main hall of São Bento metro station contains a collection of images and headlines from multiple international media sources, covering the selected cases. Impartial Spectrum presents various ways in which news are highlighted in the media, arranged by their tone of voice, political agenda, and local versus global narrative. It aims to reveal subtle patterns and media positioning within the seemingly objective reporting, encouraging at the same time the audience to recognize the variety of news framing in their daily news consumption.

Impartial Spectrum is produced by Belle Phromchanya & Noortje van Eekelen of ACED. The work is part of a series of residencies, titled Design Systems organized by Francisco Laranjo this year's curator of Porto Design Biennale in Portugal.