Created by vocalist-composers Jaap Blonk and Joan La Barbara, Messa Di Voice is an exceptional piece of interactive performance that blurs the line between vision and sound. First premiering in 2003 at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, it has appeared at galleries and festivals across America and Europe. The overall theme of the work is the visualization of the human voice. The piece is performed by live actors “speaking” through phonetic sounds, which are analyzed by a computer and transformed into visual phenomena through real-time video and speech allithograms. For example, during the sequence “Ripple”, two performers create high-pitched chirping sounds reminiscent of wetland fauna. These “chirps” are projected as ripples, each sound having a unique shape and motion.
The underlying concept of Messa Di Voice comes from the theory of phonesthesia – the idea that sounds have an implicit visual shape or form. Furthermore, studies have shown that the “imagery” of any given sound may be based in our collective subconscious. For example, a 1927 study by psychologist Wolfgang Köhler asked subjects to match geometric figures with the sound they thought it most accurately represented. The results showed an almost unanimous answer.
By creating images out of phonetic speech, Messa Di Voice conveys the non-physical nature of voice by giving it a tangible form in space. It communicates its ideas in a form that can be understood regardless of language or reading ability. It is interactive in such a way that while its performers are communicating before the entire audience, it is up to the individual viewer to comprehend their message.
No comments:
Post a Comment