The Suicided Voice

Mark A. Bokowiec, and Julie Wilson-Bokowiec

Music Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

• Year: 2008
• Location: Genova, Italy

Abstract:

Program notes: The Suicided Voice is the second piece in the Vox Circuit Trilogy, a series of interactive vocal works completed in 2007. In this piece the acoustic voice of the performer is “suicided” and given up to digital processing and physical re-embodiment. Dialogues are created between acoustic and digital voices. Gender specific registers are willfully subverted and fractured. Extended vocal techniques make available unusual acoustic resonances that generate rich processing textures and spiral into new acoustic and physical trajectories that traverse culturally specific boundaries crossing from the human into the virtual, from the real into the mythical. The piece is fully scored, there are no pre-recorded soundfiles used and no sound manipulation external to the performer's control. In The Suicided Voice the sensor interface of the Bodycoder System is located on the upper part of the torso. Movement data is mapped to live processing and manipulation of sound and images. The Bodycoder also provides the performer with real-time access to processing parameters and patches within the MSP environment. All vocalisations, decisive navigation of the MSP environment and Kinaesonic expressivity are selected, initiated and manipulated by the performer. The primary expressive functionality of the Bodycoder System is Kinaesonic. The term Kinaesonic is derived from the compound of two words: Kinaesthetic meaning the movement principles of the body and Sonic meaning sound. In terms of interactive technology the term Kinaesonic refers to the one-to-one, mapping of sonic effects to bodily movements. In our practice this is usually executed in real-time. The Suicided Voice was created in residency at the Banff Centre, Canada and completed in the electro-acoustic music facilities of the University of Huddersfield. About the performers: Mark Bokowiec (Composer, Electronics & Software Designer): Mark is the manager of the electro-acoustic music studios and the new Spacialization and Interactive Research Lab at the University of Huddersfield. Mark lectures in interactive performance, interface design and composition. Composition credits include: Tricorder a work for two quarter tone recorders and live MSP, commissioned by Ensemble QTR. Commissions for interactive instruments include: the LiteHarp for London Science Museum and A Passage To India an interactive sound sculpture commissioned by Wakefield City Art Gallery. CD releases include: Route (2001) the complete soundtrack on MPS and Ghosts (2000) on Sonic Art from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Huddersfield and Newcastle also on the MPS label. Mark is currently working on an interactive hydro-acoustic installation. Julie Wilson-Bokowiec (vocalist/performer, video and computer graphics): Julie has creating new works in opera/music theatre, contemporary dance and theatre including: Salome (Hammersmith Odeon – Harvey Goldsmith/Enid production) Suspended Sentences (ICA & touring) Figure Three (ICA) for Julia Bardsley, Dorian Grey (LBT/Opera North), Alice (LBT) and a variety of large-scale site-specific and Body Art works. As a performer and collaborator Julie has worked with such luminaries as Lindsey Kemp, Genesis P-Orridge and Psychic TV and the notorious Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch. Julie and Mark began creating work with interactive technologies in 1995 developing the first generation of the Bodycoder System in 1996.

Citation:

BibTeX Entry:

  @inproceedings{nime2008-music-Bokowiec2008a,
 abstract = {Program notes:
The Suicided Voice is the second piece in the Vox Circuit Trilogy, a series of interactive vocal works completed in 2007. In this piece the acoustic voice of the performer is “suicided” and given up to digital processing and physical re-embodiment. Dialogues are created between acoustic and digital voices. Gender specific registers are willfully subverted and fractured. Extended vocal techniques make available unusual acoustic resonances that generate rich processing textures and spiral into new acoustic and physical trajectories that traverse culturally specific boundaries crossing from the human into the virtual, from the real into the mythical. The piece is fully scored, there are no pre-recorded soundfiles used and no sound manipulation external to the performer's control.
In The Suicided Voice the sensor interface of the Bodycoder System is located on the upper part of the torso. Movement data is mapped to live processing and manipulation of sound and images. The Bodycoder also provides the performer with real-time access to processing parameters and patches within the MSP environment. All vocalisations, decisive navigation of the MSP environment and Kinaesonic expressivity are selected, initiated and manipulated by the performer. The primary expressive functionality of the Bodycoder System is Kinaesonic. The term Kinaesonic is derived from the compound of two words: Kinaesthetic meaning the movement principles of the body and Sonic meaning sound. In terms of interactive technology the term Kinaesonic refers to the one-to-one, mapping of sonic effects to bodily movements. In our practice this is usually executed in real-time. The Suicided Voice was created in residency at the Banff Centre, Canada and completed in the electro-acoustic music facilities of the University of Huddersfield.

About the performers:

Mark Bokowiec (Composer, Electronics & Software Designer): Mark is the manager of the electro-acoustic music studios and the new Spacialization and Interactive Research Lab at the University of Huddersfield. Mark lectures in interactive performance, interface design and composition. Composition credits include: Tricorder a work for two quarter tone recorders and live MSP, commissioned by Ensemble QTR. Commissions for interactive instruments include: the LiteHarp for London Science Museum and A Passage To India an interactive sound sculpture commissioned by Wakefield City Art Gallery. CD releases include: Route (2001) the complete soundtrack on MPS and Ghosts (2000) on Sonic Art from Aberdeen, Glasgow, Huddersfield and Newcastle also on the MPS label. Mark is currently working on an interactive hydro-acoustic installation.

Julie Wilson-Bokowiec (vocalist/performer, video and computer graphics): Julie has creating new works in opera/music theatre, contemporary dance and theatre including: Salome (Hammersmith Odeon – Harvey Goldsmith/Enid production) Suspended Sentences (ICA & touring) Figure Three (ICA) for Julia Bardsley, Dorian Grey (LBT/Opera North), Alice (LBT) and a variety of large-scale site-specific and Body Art works. As a performer and collaborator Julie has worked with such luminaries as Lindsey Kemp, Genesis P-Orridge and Psychic TV and the notorious Austrian artist Hermann Nitsch. Julie and Mark began creating work with interactive technologies in 1995 developing the first generation of the Bodycoder System in 1996.},
 address = {Genova, Italy},
 author = {Mark A. Bokowiec and Julie Wilson-Bokowiec},
 booktitle = {Music Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 editor = {Roberto Doati},
 month = {June},
 publisher = {Casa Paganini},
 title = {The Suicided Voice},
 year = {2008}
}