The ParaOice is a sound installation by CUTTER // NASH.
The work featured in the bodyparts exhibition, Asia House, London, 2-5 Jul 2019 – “exploring perceptions and responses to disabled bodies” based on research by Bournemouth University and the University of Bath. A group of disabled artists were commissioned to produce work inspired by the public response to television coverage of the 2012 and 2016 Paralympics.
“A Paralympic parody, ‘The ParaOice’ is based on a futuristic vocal competition. Through the lens of post-human, queer and disability theories, this piece examines public perceptions of ‘realness’. Exploring how Paralympic sport has impacted upon society’s views about disability, validity and normativity.
Imagine a 2099 remake of ‘The Voice’ competition. In this dystopian future, competitors with augmented voices are disqualified. A lucky few, however, qualify for a parallel competition ‘The ParaOice’. Most people love ‘The ParaOice’ but some question its eligibility criteria, likening the show to vegan steak. This in part has been due to the rise in bionic vocal chords….”
Sonic Pixels was used as the delivery system for the piece. For this gallery setting we fabricated custom cradles to mount the units on top of weighted microphone stands and swapped the usual iPad Pro control interface for a Novation Launchpad Mk2 with openFrameworks middleware running a Mac Pro.
More details and a demo video of the work in a post on Lewis’ art practice website.