Laments and Hopes for a Fragile World
Press ▶To Begin the Sound
Laments and Hope in a Fragile World is an animated sound piece created by the Seeking Kali Artist Collective, William Evertson (USA), Susan Shulman (Canada) and Ria Vanden Eynde (Belgium). It is inspired by status messages from social networks. In this piece, short messages of frustration, hope or desires are recorded and then layered into an audio program to produce a staggered vocal composition in the tradition of a musical round. The voices are timed to an animation simulating rain in the part of the world they originate from.
In building the sound portion of this piece, voice layers are added in an overlapping fashion, with each new voice taking precedence as older voices are reduced in volume and become part of the background “buzz”.
The piece is a reflection of the pervasive use of social media in communicating both frustration and hope in a condensed form. We have seen from the Facebook postings, Google +, tweets and blogs that despite our technologies we are at times helpless in the face of these events, yet have the desire to do something even if it is only a statement of solidarity.
The piece is homage as well as experiment to see how current events shape the sounds representing the words of an artist's social network. Specifically, by condensing the voice of artists in the face of suffering and turbulence; either from political or cultural conflict or disaster, both man made and natural, we want to preserve a distilled year of concern and hope.
In coping with human suffering, it is important to be seen and heard; that the collective memory is documented, that it doesn't go unnoticed; for then it would be meaningless. While much has been written about the use of social media as a tool for dissent or as an aid to relief effort, we aim to find out what that never ending cascade of voice sounds like.
In building the sound portion of this piece, voice layers are added in an overlapping fashion, with each new voice taking precedence as older voices are reduced in volume and become part of the background “buzz”.
The piece is a reflection of the pervasive use of social media in communicating both frustration and hope in a condensed form. We have seen from the Facebook postings, Google +, tweets and blogs that despite our technologies we are at times helpless in the face of these events, yet have the desire to do something even if it is only a statement of solidarity.
The piece is homage as well as experiment to see how current events shape the sounds representing the words of an artist's social network. Specifically, by condensing the voice of artists in the face of suffering and turbulence; either from political or cultural conflict or disaster, both man made and natural, we want to preserve a distilled year of concern and hope.
In coping with human suffering, it is important to be seen and heard; that the collective memory is documented, that it doesn't go unnoticed; for then it would be meaningless. While much has been written about the use of social media as a tool for dissent or as an aid to relief effort, we aim to find out what that never ending cascade of voice sounds like.