” While institutionalized, Artaud faced a deep struggle with language, with the body, with madness and art and produced literature, critical-philosophical essays and many other texts that cannot fit the categories and genres usually given. This production, which included letters, drawings, poems and notes, has aided the expansion of the limits and the discussion of languages such as literature, theater, visual arts and performance. Artaud truly was a thinker of below and beyond languages, especially the dimension of language, a place of surgeries and stage for a disproportionate delivery of his fervor. Through him, the French language suffered interventions whose lines of flight3 suggest a notion for voice in performance. In this context emerged the first glossolalic manifestations: as an overflow of this struggle with language. During that same period of intense textual production, in which Artaud dared to recreate himself as a Body without Organs (BwO)4, these manifestations of a delirious language, too lucid, incomprehensible, densely creative and philosophical went through him. They underwent a long process of incubation and internal alchemy until their transubstantiation in poetic language. In the work of Artaud something demands to be heard, something arouses a voice. A vocal spectrum seems to populate his Gi l Rober to A lmeida; César Lignel l i – I n s i d e the Swashing Glossolalias of Artaud Rev. Bras. Estud. Presença, Porto Alegre, v. 6, n. 1, p. 71-93, Jan./Apr. 2016. Available at: http://www.seer.ufrgs.br/presenca 72E-ISSN 2237-2660 writings.

Perhaps due to his constant confinement in clinics and nursing homes, he has written excessively what otherwise could be said or experimented in different performance contexts. It is remarkable the aural potential of his work, because when we read it we have a strong feeling that what is written eagerly asks to be yelled, wrought in voice and language; often, an atrocious impulse seems to explode from his writings and drawings, making the language inspire sounds. In an interview, Jacques Derrida comments on this aural character of the Artaudian texts: “To read him should imply resurrecting his voice, to read imagining him utter his texts. I know of no other author whose act of uttering is so present in his writings”5 (our translation). This also means reading him using the ears, grasping a possible voice in his speech. Reading him aloud also as a resource of experimentation with reading. And in this vital and cruel need to say, uttering the word to realize it in the material word, Artaud will operate a conflict that, overflowing the language, will flow into glossolalia.”

This section offers a nuanced examination of Antonin Artaud’s complex connection with language, psychosis, and art. Artaud’s institutionalisation triggered a fundamental fight with language, which, along with his bouts with lunacy, spurred his creation of literature, essays, letters, paintings, and poetry that defied traditional categorization.

His work pushed the frontiers of artistic expression in fields such as literature, theatre, visual arts, and performance, implying a rethinking of the function of voice, notably via the manifestation of glossolalia. Artaud’s writings are seen as having a powerful auditory potential, requiring to be read aloud and reflecting an urgent, visceral aspect that goes beyond the written language.Artaud’s journey culminates in the phenomenon of glossolalia, which represents a transformative process in which his struggles with language give way to a form of ecstatic speech that defies rational comprehension, allowing readers to engage with his texts on a visceral and experiential level.

I made “Speak” as an installation on a CRT TV with headphones and some cool generative art graphics. The whole idea was to create an immersive experience by combining audio and visual aspects. The old-school CRT TV, along with the feeling of listening through headphones, made the installation feel more nostalgic and intimate. The generative art graphics were picked with care to match the sounds, so they added more meaning to the experience. I was hoping that this combination would catch people’s attention and bring them into the world of “Speak,” inspiring them to explore the vast range of human communication and emotion.

However, as I continued to think about the presentation of “Speak,” I saw that the pictures were detracting from the purity of the audio experience. I chose to remove the graphics completely and instead play a stereo mix over speakers with no accompanying imagery. This choice originated from a wish to focus only on the piece’s auditory side, allowing listeners to interact more fully with the sound narrative without being distracted by visuals. By removing the pictures, I hoped to create a more concentrated and direct experience, allowing viewers to fully immerse themselves in the sound

.

“Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) is an area of clinical practice that supplements or compensates for impairments in speech-language production and/or comprehension, including spoken and written modes of communication. AAC falls under the broader umbrella of assistive technology, or the use of any equipment, tool, or strategy to improve functional daily living in individuals with disabilities or limitations.

AAC uses a variety of techniques and tools to help the individual express thoughts, wants and needs, feelings, and ideas, including the following:

• manual signs
• gestures
• finger spelling
• tangible objects
• line drawings
• picture communication boards and letter boards
• speech-generating devices

AAC is augmentative when used to supplement existing speech, alternative when used in place of speech that is absent or not functional, or temporary as when used by patients postoperatively in intensive care (Elsahar et al., 2019).”

The notion of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) provides an intriguing look at communication beyond standard voice and writing. AAC refers to a variety of strategies and instruments for assisting people who have difficulty producing or comprehending speech. This field, which falls under assistive technology, investigates various approaches such as manual signs, gestures, and speech-generating technologies to enable the communication of thoughts, wants, and emotions. AAC is classified as an augmentative or alternative mode of communication, depending on whether it enriches current speech or replaces absent or non-functional speech. In the framework of my project, Speak, AAC invites reflection on the core of communication, notably how to transmit emotions without relying primarily on words..

https://www.asha.org/practice-portal/professional-issues/augmentative-and-alternative-communication/

“According to Mehrabian, when a person communicates feelings, the three elements of the message—words, tone of voice, and facial expression—contribute differently to how much others like the person. Specifically, words account for 7%, tone of voice for 38%, and facial expression for 55% of the liking.”

https://www.mindtools.com/ao9kek8/mehrabians-communication-model

whether I could communicate emotion in a different way

whether an audience could feel and understand without the need for words and by how much/little.

“ In this sense, each of our utterances of spoken language carries not only its own message but also, through accent, tone of voice and habitual voice quality it is at the same time an audible declaration of our membership of particular social regional groups, of our individual physical and psychological identity, and of our momentary mood.”

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3361774/

Alternative Methods of Communication: An Overview

“In 1791,8 Kempelen meticulously described his invention in a book, Mechanismus der menschlichen Sprache nebst Beschreibung einer sprechenden Maschine (“The mechanism of the human speech with the description of a speaking machine”). The book laid down the theoretical principles, and the guidelines for practical realization.Yet, no matter how much the thing was described for everybody to study, the machine nevertheless kept producing effects which can only be described with the Freudian word “uncanny.” There is an uncanniness in the gap which enables a machine, by purely mechanical means, to produce something so uniquely human as voice and speech.It is as if the effect could 7introduction emancipate itself from its mechanical origin, and start functioning as a surplus—indeed,as the ghost in the machine;as if there were an effect without a proper cause,an effect surpassing its explicable cause— and this is one of the strange properties of the voice to which I will keep returning.“

In 1791, Wolfgang von Kempelen constructed a speaking machine. He wrote a book called “Mechanismus der menschlichen Sprache nebst Beschreibung einer sprechenden Maschine” (“The mechanism of human speech with the description of a speaking machine”) where he described the machine in detail. However, the machine’s ability to produce speech continued to create an unsettling feeling. This is because the machine’s mechanical nature contrasts with its ability to replicate something as uniquely human as speech and communication.

The passage implies that the speaking machine not only functions based on its mechanical origins but also acquires a life of its own. It operates as a surplus, functioning independently of its explicable cause, much like a ghost in the machine. This occurrence challenges conventional cause-and-effect theories, emphasizing the mysterious nature of the human voice. The concept of an effect without a valid cause creates a sense of unease and curiosity, as the machine produces something that cannot be easily explained. It is as if the machine has a mind of its own, generating sounds that are unexpected and inexplicable. The machine transcends its original purpose and takes on a new role as a seemingly autonomous entity that defies explanation. This idea calls into question the very nature of what it means to be human, as machines become more and more advanced and start to imitate human processes. The passage suggests that the speaking machine represents a new type of intelligence, one that is not bound by the limitations of its mechanical origins but instead operates on a level that is beyond human comprehension.

Overall, the paragraph dives into the creepy and perplexing features of Kempelen’s speaking machine, encouraging readers to consider the distinctions between the mechanical and the human, the explainable and the unexplainable. It emphasises the complexities of human communication and the enormous influence of technology on our perception of what it is to be human.

A Voice and Nothing More. (n.d.). Available at: https://janisdenis.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/mladen-dolar-a-voice-and-nothing-more.pdf [Accessed 23 Apr. 2024].

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Over my Christmas break, I wanted to learn to make generative sound pieces and use the visual – not as a replacement for the audio piece but to communicate audio to audiences in a more accessible way. I looked a few different coding languages and eventually stumbled upon P5js. I began with the code:

“function setup() {
createCanvas(400, 400);
}

function draw() {
background(220);
}“

which was used to create a blank grey canvas as shown below:

I learned that the functions are what define the initial setup, flow, and order of operations. After learning how to make a canvas and the use of functions, I tried to draw a circle.

“function setup() {
createCanvas(400, 400);
}

function draw() {
background(220);
ellipse(50,50,80,80);
}“

the added lines draw an ellipse, with its center 50 pixels over from the left and 50 pixels down from the top, with a width and height of 80 pixels.

I then began experimenting with the values in the brackets to see what happens.

“function setup() {
createCanvas(400, 400);
}

function draw() {
if (mouseIsPressed) {
fill(0);
} else {
fill(255);
}
ellipse(mouseX, mouseY, 80, 80);
}”

This program creates a canvas that is 400 pixels wide and 400 pixels high, and then starts drawing white circles at the position of the mouse. When a mouse button is pressed, the circle color changes to black – as can be seen with the if “mouseispressed” and “fill”. The mouse x and mouse y allow the circle to track the location of the mouse.

I used the following tutorial to create the basis for the audio input and implementation of the visual. using the following code from the video which allowed me to create a visualiser a piece of audio. It allowed me to gain a basic understanding of the way audio can be implemented in p5js, and although im not trying to make a visualiser, the basic functions such as “

function setup() {
song = loadSound”

were overall very helpful in understanding how to implement my own ideas.

let mufflingnew; let peaks; function preload(){ mufflingnew = loadSound(“mufflingnew.wav”); } function setup() { createCanvas(400, 400); peaks = mufflingnew.getPeaks(width); mufflingnew.loop(); } function draw() { background(255,182,193); stroke(0,0,128); for(let i = 0; i < peaks.length; i++){ line(i, height/2 + peaks[i]*200, i, height/2 -peaks[i]*200); } let t = map(mufflingnew.currentTime(), 0, mufflingnew.duration(), 0, width) stroke(255, 255, 190); line(t, 0, t, height); }

I wanted it so as the audio plays, a pattern – sqaures – appear on the screen based upon the amplitude of the audio. i started with trying to move a a basic Elipse shape using the following code:

function setup() {
createCanvas(400, 400);
}

function draw() {
background(220);
fill(255,0,150);
ellipse (150,150,200,200)

}

By adding the code x = x + 1, the circle can will move to the right slowly and horizontally. Initially, this is a simple way of moving a singular object but for something more complex and advanced i would have to do it differently. I thought about what i wanted from the sound to be shown visually and i thought about pitch and amplitude. for p5js to analyse the i needed to declare that i would be using sound and something called FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) function which would help analyse the sound and get information about its frequency content.. I then loaded the sound file called ‘mufflingnew.mp3’ before anything else. This is done using the preloud() function which runs once before the sketch starts.

For my recording project, I decided to try out an unconventional technique. I placed my phone inside my wardrobe amidst a pile of clothing and then closed the wardrobe door. I then stood in front of the closed wardrobe and began speaking into my phone’s microphone. While this method created a strange confessional and introspective dynamic, it also required me to concentrate on the technical aspects of the work itself.

In order to achieve the desired recording quality, I had to ensure that my voice was loud enough for the microphone to pick up, yet muffled enough so that any sounds being recorded couldn’t be heard acoustically. This demanded a great deal of attention and focus on my part.

For the actual recording, I chose a deeply personal topic that made me reflect on the nature of the work, the space in which the recording was taking place, the object being recorded, and the intimate nature of the issue being addressed. The project forced me to consider all these factors and explore the boundaries of my creativity.

When we speak our thoughts out loud, we engage in a complex and nuanced process of both admitting and not admitting certain things. Consider the moment when a thought first begins to form in our minds. It may be a fleeting idea, a sudden realization, or an emotion we’re struggling to process. But at this point, it’s still just a thought, existing only within our own minds.

However, when we decide to vocalize that thought, we enter into a delicate game of admittance and in-admission. We must choose which aspects of our thoughts to reveal and which to keep hidden. This process involves a certain level of vulnerability and risk, as we expose our innermost thoughts and feelings to others.

At the same time, there is a confessional aspect to speaking our thoughts out loud. By vocalizing something that was previously only a thought, we are acknowledging its existence and giving it a tangible form. This act of verbalization can be cathartic, as it allows us to release pent-up emotions and gain a sense of clarity and closure.

Overall, the process of speaking our thoughts out loud is a complex one that involves many layers of meaning and intention. But whether we do it for personal growth, to connect with others, or simply to make our voices heard, it remains a powerful and transformative act.

later removed visual initial ideas on speak – where the visuals represented each emotional state i was trying to represent within the piece. the 1st being – grief, using a neo-expressionism style painting i painted to reflect identity, the second being a red flow field to reflect anger and the third being squares that increased in size with the pitch of the sound.