voicebox: The Karoake of Common Song, 2001, Interactive Installation, Studio One, School of Communications and Theater, Temple University.
This interactive sound and video installation has a strong performative element, inviting participants to place themselves in the paradoxical Voicebox, a space where various vocal presences and several story lines cross. Standing inside the Voicebox, the participant's vocal sound is answered with a voice sample that matches the pitch. Each vocalization elicits a layered response of other voices, singing along. Each voice interaction also switches between two video narratives. When the participant sings, her silhouette is keyed into the video projection.
Enclosed in the Voicebox, both voice and image of the participant are veiled to spectators outside, who see only a projected silhouette, and hear the echo of multivocal song. Voicebox allows viewers and participants to dwell on the karaoke border between performer and viewer, between music and story. In the human-computer duet, a story gets told. But just who is it that is telling the story?
Voicebox was installed at the School of Communications & Theater, Temple University in 2001, and received generous funding from the Temple Provost's Arts Commission Grant and Grant-in-Aid programs.