14.05.2006
17.06.2006 ::: ASCII f&-'net-ik/ ::: changing the focus of the project... (from pzi to women in technoculture).
ASCII f&-'net-ik/ recontextualises the history of technoculture by emphasizing women's participation in its development. inspired by the international phonetic alphabet, ASCII f&-'net-ik proposes sounds for ASCII characters. it is a mapping of the keyboard with audio samples suggesting its provenance, the women who participated in its development, both in the factories and in the history of technoculture, as well as an interpretation of its binary code (generated with PD according to each letter's computer code ).
"Women's exclusion from technological competence, from skilled work and from large numbers of occupations, was established and continues to underpin the social relations of technological work today. Shaped by male power, technologies embody patriarchal values and have become intimately related to masculine culture."
Webster, Juliet. "Information Technology, Women and their Work", in Boel Berner (Ed.), Gendered Practices: Feminist Studies of Technology and Society, Linköping, Department of Technology and Social Change, Linköping University, 1997. p. 143.
14.05.2006
the project, quilted sounds of pzi proposes to stitch together audio patches of the pzi student body. the process of patch collection should reflect the traditional craft of patchwork in that it should involve all members of the group, as well as reflect the dynamic of that group and as a result its identity of sorts. like the patchwork quilt, the project presents itself as an archive in the making, a historical document for the quiltmakers, the pzi student body. this quilt of sounds will be projected into space by means of typewriter who's keys are each wired to the different patches of sound, producing a composition when typed. thus the typewriter becomes an instrument as well as a communal archival repository, whilst maintaining its traditional function, printing text onto paper. also, the ambiguous context in which the project situates the object raises issues of voyeurism for the user, eavesdropping into the pzi community.
11.05.2006
revision of typewriter concept - the quilted sounds of pzi
refining the initial theme - i propose to choose the pzi as the community for the project.
in response to our precarious group dynamics, i would like for us to explore our position within the group, our relationships to each other and the group as a whole (and such a concept).
the sounds collected from each one of us would somehow reflect this dynamic - suggestions?
the typewriter, when 'played' or 'used' becomes not only an instrument of our own devise (and reflecting our identity as a group), but creates a quilt of sound, reminiscent of the etymology of 'sampling' which was first used to describe patterns to stich made/collected by women...
initial concept:
the typewriter as poetic icon. the passage of time. writing/the creation of history. the narrative.
my concept for this project is a continuation of my work from last trimester to develop a methodology to capture collective experience in which the collective in question actively engages with this process.
creating a dynamic sound narrative, through play.
i propose to collect short sound snippets from various people, their 'favorite' sound. each of these sounds would be connected to a key from a typewriter (contact triggers key type as well as a sound). upon typing keys from this object, the functionality of text processing remains, whilst a layer of sound is superimposed. the typewriter becomes an instrument, each 'song' a rearrangement of the 26 sounds 'recorded' into the object. each time the typewriter is 'played', a narrative is created, the 'user' becomes a composer/narrator/listener/reader of a community's 'sound collective'.
inspired by composers who use radios as performing instruments (Cage, Stockhausen). i choose to narrow the entire 'electroclimate' by selecting specific sounds which resonate with members of a community, so that the performance becomes a sort recount of that particular community's audio sensitivities and affections. the quasi infinite possibilities in composition begins to reflect the complexity of relationships within a community.
after having 'played' this object, one walks away with a piece of paper. the typed text which appears on it is a flat reminder of the story that was 'summoned', but like archives in a library, can only suggest the event by alluding to its occurrence, each letter bearing witness to a sound like notes of a composition, A,C,D,E, etc.