Vocal Folds

In “Vocal Folds,” three custom LED displays housed in oil drums play unique Laryngoscopic videos. Five English actors read aloud during an endoscopic filming; the camera introduced into their nose, reaching their vocal folds and cords. As viewers approach the piece, they stick their heads inside the barrels to see the pulsating vocal folds, blown-up on the display positioned at the oil drum’s base. The words played aloud are fragments from Charles Babbage’s "Ninth Bridgewater Treatise" (1837), in which Babbage posits that all words ever spoken remain in the atmosphere, as small particles emitted from a speaker’s mouth into the air.

General info

Spanish name:
Cuerdas Vocales
Year of creation:
2019
Technique:
laryngoscopical video, LED display, computer, speakers, oil drum
Power:
750W on 110V OR 220V per drum
Room conditions:
Low lighting
Dimensions:
display is 50cm in diameter, oil drum is 85cm high

Exhibitions


Credits

  • Programming: Guillaume Tremblay
  • Hardware: Guillaume Tremblay
  • Video Featuring: Morgan Bailey, Sarah Louise Davies, Marc Graham, Maeve Larkin, Javier Marzan
  • Video Editing: Miguel Legault
  • Industrial Design: Rebecca Murdock
  • Production Assistance: Sarah Amarica, Karine Charbonneau, Pierre Fournier, Kitae Kim, Shin Hae Jung, Frederic Monast, Matthew Palmer, Pipo Pierre-Louis, Stephan Schulz, Tegan Scott