Voicing Moment
Work Information
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Introduction
Voicing Moment is an HTML5-based web platform sound art installation as a review of Her Noise Archive, inspired by To Valerie Solanas and Marilyn Monroe in Recognition of Their Desperation. The installation uses rule-based guidance and group behaviour as a vehicle to demonstrate the dynamic relationship between repression and individual expression in an algorithm-driven era.
And in the algorithm-dominated era, rules often exist in an invisible form, such as recommendation mechanisms. These rules shape the trajectory of individual behaviour through content distribution and prioritisation. To reflect this, the installation uses ‘Pitch Line’ and ‘Background Harmony’ to demonstrate how rules invisibly guide the convergence of individual voices. Participants are free to make their own choices, but their behaviours inevitably converge under the potential influence of the rules.
Participation Method
The installation is built on HTML5 technology and can be accessed by the viewer through a browser. This web-based design adds to the openness and universality of the installation, a format that precludes outside interference in the process of participating in the installation, and allows participants to use their own devices to record in any environment in which they are relaxed.
Installation Structure
The installation supports real-time uploading and mixing, and the recording function allows participants to record up to 100 seconds of audio with a ‘stop’ button to give free control. This design provides participants with sufficient space for expression and reveals the impact of the fragmentation of attention in contemporary society on the durability of expression. As the number of participants dwindles in the latter part of the recording, the results of group behaviour and social rules shaping individual patterns of expression are revealed. The device also provides a playback function that allows participants to listen to their own recordings and compare them with others' recordings and the Pitch Line, prompting them to reflect on whether their expressions are more self-expressive or the result of rule-guidance.
The installation is structured around the participants' dual role choices. Participants can choose to be either a ‘vocaliser’ or a ‘listener’. As vocalisers, participants contribute their voices to the installation through the recording function, but in doing so they must be aware that their voices will be heard by others, a publicity that alludes to the psychological pressure of the ‘public gaze’ in society. As listeners, the participants can choose to listen to the voices of others, and through this observation and reflection, develop a new understanding of their own expression. Through the dynamic transformation of roles, the installation reproduces the complex process of how individual expression is influenced by external rules in social culture.
When participants observe the behaviour of others, they may choose to go along with the crowd in order to avoid being ‘different’. In addition, the entertaining design of the installation further reduces participants' defensiveness and deepens the disciplinary effect of the rules. The design of the installation is based on the following key questions: How do rules repress or guide individual expression? How does social culture influence the convergence of individual behaviours? Do participants actively adjust their expression in the face of rule-directed and group behaviour? Through these questions, Voicing Moment attempts to show the dynamic relationship between individual expression and repression in modern society.
The installation guides the participants through the interaction, calculating the pitch of the incoming voice in real time and displaying it on the screen. A ‘standard pitch line’ is set up in the interface to provide a visual reference, symbolising the existence of social and even algorithmic rules. Although the participants are free to choose whether to follow them or not, the very existence of this rule has the potential to psychologically guide behaviour. In addition, the simple chords and cyclic rhythms as ‘Background Harmony’ further reinforce the potential guiding force of the rules, and metaphorically represent the discipline of rules on individual expression in modern society through entertainment.