Aim
Have another go at the setup — play with p5 voice, layering, editing the poem.
Work out the errors and problems with the first iteration.
How might I tighten up the words and build more metaphor/depth to it?
How might I experiment further with sound?
Precedents / context
My last experiment, setting up the theatre with voice and poetry. Feedback from Andrew and the studio group on it.
'Lungs' by Graham Harwood and Matsuko Yokokoji (2005), digital prints of code incorporating illustration and typesetting, referencing poet and painter William Blake. I like code poetry and like what it's trying to do, but a lot of the time it doesn't feel very accessible — in how it's presented and the content. I think this work navigates this well, by typesetting the code in the format and conventions of how it's actually written — the numbers down the side, the indents and alignment. Of course, the illustration and typography is also very evocative and gives you an idea of the tone, content, etc. I think it's also smart in how it frames the code — almost like a hand written/painted manuscript.
As per Andrew's feedback, I had a look at the witches in Macbeth, in different stage/film adaptations. The collective speaking, or speaking in turn, is
Process / methods
- Editing the invitation-entry poem. I knew it could be a lot tighter, while building depth into the metaphors around code, spell and theatre.
Enter softly into the Cyborg Witch Theatre.
Parse into the dimension of thresholds
inbetween flesh and screen, input and output
This is a theatre is for
Reimagining recasting recalibrating
Our stories, our bodies, our words
Let us gather in the woods of the web.
We call forth this space and stage.
We invite them to occupy and hold intersections
Intersections of the Cyborg and the Witch.
Intersections of gender, race, sexuality.
Fiends, mysteries, wretched ones.
Enter, this Cyborg Witch Theatre
Parse the thresholds in-between
Flesh and screen, input and output
Code walls, witch speak.
Setup and draw our bodies
Into a cyborg witch becoming
Into the wilds of the web.
We call forth this stage
Where dimensions multiply
becoming becomes viral
Gender x race x sexuality
- I tried to solve some of the errors and problems with p5 sound that I had last week, without much luck. Also tried experimenting further with applying effects and layers with p5 sound, without much progress either, apart from adding a 'reverb' effect which is kind of cool.
- But I re-recorded the speaking, with this new version, again in audacity (also applying directional? sound — left-right speakers)
- Inspired by the Harwood/Yokokoji work, I thought it would be more interesting to bring that typesetting/commenting into the actual setup, instead of separate prints/images like I had imagined directly off the precedent.
Reflection on action
- I think the words this time around are more effective, it says more with less, and is more specific in the language. 'Code walls, witch speak' more explicitly speaks to the experience of the theatre as defined as a space involving speech, or performance. The calling of a 'setup and draw' is a clear call to coding processes and explicitly frames the entire experience (the website) as coded and constructed.
I think this could be iterated upon more, continuing to layer in richer language. The line length is slightly annoying — maybe it could be tightened up more, so it's consistent across each stanza. Other things to consider and test/iterate: the tone of voice, and inflections in the speech. The previous iteration was angrier? More powerful and commanding, which I do enjoy. I'm not sure how dramatic to go??? This version feels softer and more mystical, especially with the reverb effect. On the reverb though, I think it is effective. It's not super experimental in playing with the voice and "character" — if it's more cyborgian, etc. but it really creates a sense of space, almost a empty stage/theatre.
- The typesetting as code comments extend this messaging — should test on people who are not familiar with code (!!!). Even though there's no functional code to read and understand, I think it is immediately more inviting to engage with because of the colour, size of text, typography — having it presented in a more designerly manner.
It is also more thought out and immediately more specific than having the words just in the middle, as a click through. Now I'm wanting to extend this idea even further and actually write in code so it is like some sort of ritual where there's a process to it, different elements and a progression/result in the more interactive "scenes". There might also be more scope within functional code to play with voice and sound, with added distortion.
Reflection for action
- Start building in the interaction-as-commands e.g. call in the perspective grid/plane, call in the walls of the stage so you also start to understand what the "code" / "spell" is doing, like a real-live (but faked) materialising.
- Test code conventions and how it reads to people who are familiar with code and who aren't. Write out the pseudocode as a follow-on from this poem and get feedback before recording?
References
https://anthology.rhizome.org/lungs
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/macbeth/macbeth.4.1.html
https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/character-analysis-the-witches-in-macbeth
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