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P[a]ra[pra]xis : Poetry in Motion

Josh Dubrau, and Mark Havryliv

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

P[a]ra[pra]xis is an open two-part software suite and Java library (JAR) that facilitates the realtime creation and simultaneous sonification of poetry/prose. It is particularly designed to implement word substitutions based on the psychoanalytical principles of free association and metonymic slippage. The first part, P[a]ra[pra]xis Collection Editor, allows a user to create and maintain a dictionary of words and their grammatical properties (i.e. verb, singular noun, pronoun etc.) and the corresponding properties of user-defined substitutions for those words. The second part, Realtime P[a]ra[pra]xis, executes these substitutions as the user/performer types, and broadcasts OSC messages containing the properties of the original and substituted words, along with discrete notifications of keyboard events. A case study (based on a live networked performance) is presented which highlights one particular usage of this program in the form of an Instant Messenger (IM) style chat with interpolated 'Freudian slips' to create a dialogue which changes between the point of transmission and the point of reception, and spontaneously generates music reflecting physical and emotional changes in the dialogue.

Citation

Josh Dubrau, and Mark Havryliv. 2008. P[a]ra[pra]xis : Poetry in Motion. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1179525 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry


@inproceedings{nime2008_Dubrau,
author = {Dubrau, Josh and Havryliv, Mark},
title = {P[a]ra[pra]xis : Poetry in Motion},
pages = {164--167},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
year = {2008},
address = {Genoa, Italy},
issn = {2220-4806},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1179525},
url = {https://nime.org/proceedings/2008/nime2008_164.pdf},
keywords = {Poetry, language sonification, psychoanalysis, linguistics, Freud, realtime poetry. },
abstract = {P[a]ra[pra]xis is an open two-part software suite and Java library (JAR) that facilitates the realtime creation and simultaneous sonification of poetry/prose. It is particularly designed to implement word substitutions based on the psychoanalytical principles of free association and metonymic slippage. The first part, P[a]ra[pra]xis Collection Editor, allows a user to create and maintain a dictionary of words and their grammatical properties (i.e. verb, singular noun, pronoun etc.) and the corresponding properties of user-defined substitutions for those words. The second part, Realtime P[a]ra[pra]xis, executes these substitutions as the user/performer types, and broadcasts OSC messages containing the properties of the original and substituted words, along with discrete notifications of keyboard events. A case study (based on a live networked performance) is presented which highlights one particular usage of this program in the form of an Instant Messenger (IM) style chat with interpolated 'Freudian slips' to create a dialogue which changes between the point of transmission and the point of reception, and spontaneously generates music reflecting physical and emotional changes in the dialogue.}
}