Reflection on experimentation and development to final performance

In my final performance I will be developing my past experimental work further to draw links and parallels between different sorts of public address into an absurdist interview between myself and unknown participants. Unlike past experiments, I will allow myself the choice of the three predicted words beyond my initial prompt. I feel that this will help to develop the piece over the duration of the performance and I hope my phone will begin to respond to my suggested choices, creating a more reciprocal dialogue, particularly as recently the predictive texts have been reaching short, consistent loops.

I intend for there to be four different 'watchers' or perspectives:
The live (physical) audience - who may ask questions are are unseen by anyone within the performance

The live (online) audience - via a laptop webcam, who may again engage and ask questions and are afforded a different sort of anonymity through their physical absence and removal from the performance.

The camera- set up as if from the live audience perspective, but with noone necessarily physically behind it, I want to play with the idea of a camera having its own view and volition.

The phone- I hope to record the livestream via my phone as if it has initiated and is watching the situation unfold alongside me.

A brief summary of main artistic influences

Lorna Mills

The irreverent tone of the artist's work and focus on a digital medium and its qualities.

Thomson and Craighead

Recruitment gone wrong- the participatory nature of the artwork, meaning experience of it includes involvement, despite not being able to influence the speech used in the piece. Human viewers are used in a similar way to a canvas in that speech is imposed upon them by the artists.

More songs of Innocence and experience - the way in which a serious and dull subject (spam emails) are turned into a pleasurable leisure activity (karaoke), which a participant can better engage with.

Aram Bartholl

Phone Zone - the mockery of social conventions by constructing a parody of the smoking area space for people to engage with, highlighting the ridiculousness of an implied boundary through a drawn line.

In bed with my brother

We are Ian - the clowning style of the performance and complete fixation and absorption in their task (conveying the words of Ian to the audience).

Kathryn Elkin

The appropriation of scripts from online spoken material, re-purposed into artwork which conveys a different meaning from what the words originally intended.

Jill Gibbon

The attempt to inhibit a closed or secret space through assuming an identity/ persona and infiltrating it.

Preparation for final performance

I asked some friends, in the knowledge I would not answer their questions directly, to "Ask me anything" to simulate the experience of having to quickly generate a response to something previously unknown. Below are some examples of the results, which I practised typing and speaking as I would in the final performance.

I really love the breakfast club and the new production of the most recent meeting with me and I will be the first time I was just wondering the same time because I have a better idea of what I have a better idea of what I have a better idea of what I have a better idea

I've been in a fair few days ago I was just wondering the same time because I have a better idea of what I have a better idea of what I have

I think I'd prefer to ski resort and spa and wellness and fitness and nutrition and dietetics and nutrition and dietetics and nutrition and dietetics and nutrition and dietetics

I have this teddy bear called the office when I get a chance to look at the minute I am not sure if you have any questions or concerns please visit the plug-in settings to determine how attachments are handled the situation and I will be the first time I was just wondering the same time because I have a better idea of what I have a better idea of what I have a better

I really have no idea how far Australia and New year to you guys are you getting back to you guys are doing well over an hour or so would you like to meet you at the minute I am not sure if you have any questions or concerns please visit the plug-in settings to determine how attachments are handled the situation and I will be the first time I was just wondering the same time because I have a better idea of what I have a better idea

Fucks sake of what I have a better idea of what I have a better idea of what I have

Probably a husky puppies are you getting back to you guys are doing well and that is the brown it is a good idea to have a better idea of what I have a better idea of what I have a better idea of what I have a

It's located in the opposite direction of the most recent meeting with me and I will be the first time I was just wondering the same time because I have a better idea of what I have a better idea of

Vice chancellor of the most recent meeting with me and I will be the first time I was just wondering the same time because I have a better idea of what I have a better idea

The president of fucking terrifying to the LUTG page and we'll get back to you guys are doing well and that is the brown it is a good idea to have a better idea of what I have a better idea of what I have

It's usually anxiety and stress and anxiety and stress and anxiety and stress and anxiety and stress and anxiety and stress and anxiety and stress

Christ sake of what I have a better idea of what I have a better idea of what I have a better

I think you're incredibly strong and I will be the first time I was just wondering the same time because I have a better idea of what I have a

Snog Mugabe marry me and I will be the first time I was just wondering the same time because I have a better idea of


What I found particularly interesting was that in only a couple of weeks the predictions of my phone had dramatically altered from the previous round of material gathering. The loop 'I have a better idea of what', while similarly nonsensical was even more prevalent than 'I will be a good idea to have a great day'. 

I WILL BE A GOOD IDEA TO HAVE A GREAT DAY

Link to video of experimental performance of the predictive text pieces (ie, what my phone thinks I want to say).

I took a random selection of the predictive text pieces from an input into an excel spreadsheet and ordered them thematically from the original prompt, moving from randomly inputted words, to single prompts, through to longer chosen sequences of words as I attempted to speak freely more before the predictions were initiated. In speaking the words I allowed myself to attempt to convey emotion while I was saying things which I wanted to and then mimicked the voice-generator from earlier experimentation; a relatively toneless and dysfunctional dialect, to suggest the takeover of the phone.

Making the performance public allowed me to test how I would react with the introduction of people. It was at times difficult as I could not anticipate reactions to the piece, particularly how humorous it came across at times. I felt the performance itself became a strange mixture of stand up comedy and a confessional. Meaning was read into the generated words and I found the pressure of speaking to a watchful group somewhat difficult.

In further experiments I believe I will find it easier if the audience is somewhat more obscure or removed, ie in darkness or online, allowing me to focus on the speech itself. I may also develop further from impersonating the voice-generator as I believe it does not effectively convey fusion of human and technology and could become unintentionally comical.

Andandandandand

Above: Link to video art- a fusion of the selfie series as a hasty gif-like video comprised of the different experimental works I have been exploring so far. This video was inspired by a suggested video on the photo app on my phone, which recognised visual similarities in the images and played them sequentially as a gif. Not intended as a series, but rather a number of testers to find a single profile image, this erroneous assumption from my phone was strikingly similar to the manner in which the predictive text could not greatly help me express what I wished to say. In its concerted and continuous efforts to engage me, my phone is equally prone to exhibit a lack of understanding or empathy.

Inspiration from the gif art of Lorna Mills

Much in the same way that the artist harvests the internet for data and material, drawing parallels and coincidental similarities by placing the found materials next to one another, I combined various elements of my previous experiments into a single piece. This was due to the thematic link of errors; the sound is taken from one of the predictive text pieces which unusually did not end in a sequence of words, but 'and' repeated continuously. This is read by a computerised voice which keeps a steadily speeding up pace for the photographs to change through.

Experiments with different levels of transparency and layering in order to combine all of the selfies into a single image in an misguided attempt to create an ideal whole.

It's

a

bit

awkward

really

see

I

don't

want

anyone

to

see

these

really

bit

vain

you

know

But

my

phone

is

insisting

It

has

slideshows

it

prompts

me

to

share

them

whenever

I

go

online

They're

there

Little

imperfect

thumbnails