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<h1>Kari Robertson<br>
Wet Signal Voice Gardens<br>
18 Feb – 12 May 2020</h1>
<i>Wet Signal Voice Gardens</i></h1>
<p>Wet Signal Voice Gardens is an online landscape, built as a tool to explore the many aspects of the human voice; its non-linguistic properties and its position in the digital world. It is brought to UP Projects by Netherlands-based artist
Kari
Robertson.</p>
<p>Wet Signal Voice Gardens invites international participation, to explore how hierarchies of value present in the offline world might persist, or could be subverted, online. In highlighting which voices are ordinarily more and less able to
traverse and communicate within digital space Wet Signal Voice Gardens subverts the prejudices of the offline world and in so doing creates an inclusive space. In her research for the project Robertson examined how dominant technology such as
Alexa or Google Assistant promote a sense of vocal perfection, leaving no room for the many deviations of the embodied human voice. </p>
<p>The artist states: “Typical vocal avatars, such as Siri, are absent of speech defects such as stutters or slips of the tongue. They do not get laryngitis, toothache or social anxiety. Therefore they almost always resemble impossibly
able-bodied
members of society, with highly limited representation, of age, race, physical ability or neurodiversity.”</p>
<p>Wet Signal Voice Gardens is a virtual landscape where audiences are invited to speak into the microphone built into their laptop or smartphones. The audience contribution is recorded by XXX software and the recorded sound is transformed into
a
visual avatar with the form and characteristics determined by the attributes of the voice such as pitch, length, nuance, and volume. The artwork then creates an online visual representation of diverse voices and, in so doing, performs a
potential counterpoint to the seamless ‘smoothness’ of the digital voice.</p>
<p>Wet Signal Voice Gardens relies on varied audio properties in order to playfully critique and subvert, rather than replicate, established power relations. Robertson’s artwork seeks to highlight forms of vocal prejudice that exist on- and
off-line and opens a space for other forms of relation beyond the divisions of language, dialect and ableism.</p>
<h3>1. Key</h3>
<ahref="../{{ url_for('about') }}">CLICK HERE TO RECORD YOUR VOICE AND CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONALISED AVATAR.</a>
<p>The voice plays an important role in the offline world. It can establish power dynamics or uphold existing power structures that shape societies and outlooks. Recent research by Casey A. Klofstad, Rindy C. Anderson and Susan Peters (of the
University of Miami and Duke University respectively) demonstrated that while “higher-pitched female speakers are perceived as more attractive … Both men and women find lower-pitched female voices to be more competent”</p>
<p>The ability to link visual imagery to verbal speech has been shown to enhance reading and listening comprehension. It also helps cement understanding of the meaning of the words in the user’s memory and is a technique used when teaching very
small children how to read and speak. By highlighting prejudice, difference, and the non-linguistic properties of vocalisation, Robertson’s artwork provides a gateway for new learning and comprehension, as well as the unlearning of
<p>Kari Robertson b. 1988, Scotland, is a visual artist who lives and works in Rotterdam. Robertson works with time-based media, primarily sound, analogue film and digital video. She received an M.A in Fine Art from The Piet Zwart Institute in
2016, and undertook a residency at Deltaworkers New Orleans through the Mondriaan Fund in 2019.</p>
<p>Selected exhibitions include; Showroom MAMA (Rotterdam), The ICA (Singapore), The Banff Centre (Canada), Radiophrenia (Glasgow), Killjoy Collective (Portland Oregon), The Showroom (London), The CCA (Glasgow), TENT (Rotterdam), Flat Time House
(London), LUX Scotland, and Transmission Gallery (Glasgow).</p>
<p>In her work Kari takes a ‘sci-fi’ approach to subjectivity, using narrative as a tool to re/un-think the sovereignty of our bodies, identities or minds, and as a means to access forms of ‘radical empathy’ (what it might be to empathize beyond
the familial bonds of identity, similarity or
equivalence). She playfully explores how post-digital constructions and distributions of the subject impact on what we consider explicitly ‘personal’ or ‘subjective’.</p>
<p>Kari currently co-runs GHOST with Madison Bycroft and Natalia Sorzano. This is a nomadic curatorial project who programme bi-monthly screenings at WORM Cinema (Rotterdam) and monthly reading group Improvisation, Policing and Opacity at Tender
Centre (Rotterdam). GHOST has recently programmed exhibitions at Galerie HLM (Marseille), Microscope Gallery (New York) and MIAMI (Bogota).</p>
About:
<h3>1.Key</h3>
Record
Recording
Play last recorded sound
Stop
About
Play all / choir
’Plant’ / Save my recording and add to site
<h3>2.About the work</h3>
<p>Welcome to Wet Signal Voice Gardens, a growing online landscape and tool to explore the many facets of the human voice! Wet Signal Voice Gardens is a web-based artwork that invites broad participation to investigate the non-linguistic
<h3>2. About the work</h3>
<p>Welcome to <i>Wet Signal Voice Gardens</i>, a growing online landscape and tool to explore the many facets of the human voice! <i>Wet Signal Voice Gardens</i> is a web-based artwork that invites broad participation to investigate the
non-linguistic
properties
of voice and the place of the human voice in the digital world.</p>
<p>Live online for three months, in Wet Signal Voice Gardens, users can record into the site using the microphone on their computer or mobile phone, and the website’s technology translates the audio signal into visuals. Once a vocal recording
<p>Live online for three months, in <i>Wet Signal Voice Gardens</i>, users can record into the site using the microphone on their computer or mobile phone, and the website’s technology translates the audio signal into visuals. Once a vocal
recording
has
been submitted (and saved) as a visual, it will not disappear but can stay within the online environment so that the space grows like a garden, cumulatively populated by numerous varied and international voices.</p>
3. About Kari Robertson (Kari can you shorten this a bit?)
<h3>3. About Kari Robertson</h3>
<p>Kari Robertson b. 1988, Scotland, is a visual artist who lives and works in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Robertson works with time-based media, primarily sound, analogue film and digital video. She received an M.A in Fine Art from The Piet
Zwart Institute in 2016, and undertook a residency at Deltaworkers (New Orleans) through the Mondriaan Fund in 2019.</p>
<p>In her work Kari takes a ‘sci-fi’ approach to subjectivity, using narrative as a tool to re/un-think the sovereignty of our bodies, identities or minds, and as a means to access forms of ‘radical empathy’.</p>
<p>Kari also plays in the improvisational/experimental band Difficult with Eothan Stearn and Tracy Hanna.</p>
4. How the page works Luke and Cristina maybe you could add more technical details for description?
<p>The page is made using ------ open source software.</p>
<p>Users are invited to record their voices speaking or making non-verbal sounds into the site which the software will then translate into visual forms. Audio attributes such as pitch, volume and duration are translated into the visual
properties of
shape, opacity and colour. Users can play with using the different qualities of their voice to create varied and dynamic visualisations. When a user is happy with a recording they can opt to ‘plant it’ in the voicegarden (or add to the
archive)
using the small ‘plant’ button.</p>
<p>Archived recordings by previous users are also present on the site and ten will be active at any given moment. These can all be played simultaneously using the ‘choir’ (or play all) button.</p>
<p>Other archived recordings (represented by colours) can be found inactive on the bar at the bottom of the page and if selected will replace one of the active shapes. This allows the user to create numerous visual and audio compositions, as
well as
add to the overall composition with their own contributions.</p>
5. About UP Projects and This is Public Space
<h3>4. How the page works</h3>
<p>This website is made using mainly <ahref="https://flask.palletsprojects.com/en/1.1.x/">flask</a> and <ahref="https://p5js.org/">p5js</a>.</p>
<p>Users are invited to record their voices speaking or making non-verbal sounds into the site which the software will then translate into visual forms. Audio attributes such as amplitude and duration of sound recordings are translated into the
visual properties of size, number of edges, and colour. Users can play with using the different qualities of their voice to create varied and dynamic visualisations. The recordings are then ‘planted’ in the voicegarden (or added to the
archive). </p>
<p>Using the small ‘plant’ button, archived recordings by previous users are placed on the site and made to interact with the active user. The recordings made by visitors are deleted from the server each day.</p>
<h3>5. About UP Projects and This is Public Space</h3>
<p>UP Projects commissions contemporary art for public places. It supports artists to make work that has social relevance, encourages learning, transforms places and activates the public realm. UP Projects believe that public art has the
greatest
potential when the process is considered as important as the final project outcome.</p>
<p> Wet Signal Voice Gardens was commissioned by UP Projects as a part of its digital commissioning programme This is Public Space (TIPS). TIPS is a digital commissions programme that considers the online realm as a site for public art. TIPS
<p><i>Wet Signal Voice Gardens</i> was commissioned by UP Projects as a part of its digital commissioning programme This is Public Space (TIPS). TIPS is a digital commissions programme that considers the online realm as a site for public art.
TIPS
creates
space to explore how we navigate between the online and physical worlds, and to explore the impact of digital media on our relationships with people and places.</p>
5. About Stimuleringsfonds
<h3>5. About Stimuleringsfonds</h3>
<p>The Fund strives to make a substantial contribution to the quality of professional design practice within and especially between the disciplines of architecture, design and digital culture. Part of this endeavour is the interdisciplinary
interplay
between the cultural, social and economic domains. The Fund supports exceptional and innovative projects and activities of designers, makers and cultural institutions in the creative industries.</p>
6. Licensing – human readable and official (are you happy to use the symbols on the website for the human-readable version? Or do we want to create our own?)
<p>Wet signal Voice Garden is Licensed under the Creative Commons (CC) ‘Attribution – Non Commercial – NoDerivatives 4.0 International License’ (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). The recordings contained on this website are submitted by the public as part of
<h3>6. Licensing</h3>
<p>Wet signal Voice Garden is Licensed under the Creative Commons (CC) ‘Attribution – Non Commercial – NoDerivatives 4.0 International License’ (<ahref="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND 4.0</a>).</p>
<p>The recordings contained on this website are submitted by the public as part of
the
artwork Wet Signal Voice Gardens by Kari Robertson. If you intend to submit a recording, we cannot guarantee that your recording is protected from reuse or re-modification.</p>
artwork <i>Wet Signal Voice Gardens</i> by Kari Robertson. If you intend to submit a recording, we cannot guarantee that your recording is protected from reuse or re-modification.</p>
<p>The opinions expressed in these recordings are the recorders own and do not reflect the views of Kari Robertson, UP Projects, or Stimuleringsfonds. Because community standards vary and individuals sometimes may not comply with our policies
and
guidelines, you may be exposed to content that you find offensive or objectionable. Users are encouraged to bring any material they deem offensive or objectionable to the attention of UP Projects by emailing us at info@upprojects.com
identifying
the specific material they considered objectionable. You will be asked to supply a reason(s) for wanting the material removed.
<p>This is a human-readable summary of (and not a substitute for) the license. Please follow the link to read the full license: http://bit.ly/WSVGLicense</p>
<p>You are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit (1), provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made (2). You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
NonCommercial — You may not use the material for commercial purposes (3).
NoDerivatives — If you remix, transform, or build upon (4) the material, you may not distribute the modified material.
No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures (5) that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation.
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
Terminology Key:
‘appropriate credit’
If supplied you must supply the name of the creditor and attribution parties, a copyright notice, a license notice a disclaimer notice and a link to the material.
‘indicate if changes were made’
You must indicate if you modified the material and retain an indication or previous modifications.
‘commercial purposes’
A commercial use is one primarily intended for commercial advantage or monetary compensation.
‘remix, transform, or build upon’
Merely changing the format never creates a derivative.
’technological measures’
The license prohibits application of effective technological measures defined with reference to Article WIPO Copyright Treaty.
‘exception or limitation’
The rights of users under exceptions and limitations, such as fair use and fair dealing are not affected by the CC licenses
‘publicity, privacy, or moral rights’
<p>This is a human-readable summary of (and not a substitute for) the license. Please <ahref="http://bit.ly/WSVGLicense">follow the link</a> to read the full license.</p>
<p>You may need to get additional permissions before using the material as you intended.</p>
<p>Please contact UP Projects at info@upprojects.com before using this material.</p>
</p>
You may need to get additional permissions before using the material as you intended.
Please contact UP Projects at info@upprojects.com before using this material.
</p>
<h3>7. Licensing for the code</h3>
The code for this website is licensed under <ahref="https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.en.html">AGPL</a> and can be found <ahref="https://git.vvvvvvaria.org/varia/voicegardens">here</a>.
7. Licensing for the code – (supplied by Luke and Cristina)
<h3>8. Browser Compatibility</h3>
8. Browser Compatibility
It is recommended to use either the Firefox or Google Chrome browser as they are the most commonly used
and easily supported browsers. The website has been tested on Firefox version 72 and Google Chrome version
79.
It is recommended to use either the Firefox or Google Chrome browser as they are the most commonly used
and easily supported browsers. The website has been tested on Firefox version 72 and Google Chrome version
