In Search of Good Ancestors / Ahnen in Arbeit

06th Feb 2022 06th Feb 2022 18:00 19:30

Jonathan Chaim Reus in conversation with Eleni Ikoniadou

00:00

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  • Jennifer Walton

    UK

    The London-based producer and composer, who has toured extensively with the band Kero Kero Bonito, warps electronic tropes into a dizzying body horror.

  • Edna Martinez

    CO/DE

    Based between Berlin and Cartagena de Indias, the DJ, curator, and artist from the Colombian Caribbean routes the Caribbean African and Arabic worlds.

    • Jonathan Chaim Reus has been selected as winner of the 2022 Kontinuum call for generative sound work and will modulate a singular audio channel over a period of one year with his work »In Search of Good Ancestors / Ahnen in Arbeit.« In this talk, Reus will expand on ideas behind the work, which explores intergenerational thinking and voice synthesis.

    Photo courtesy of the artist

    The concept of inter-generational thinking is present in many traditional cultures across the globe, but has been most famously espoused by the Iroquois political doctrine The Seventh Generation Principle, that emphasises political decisions must be made considering their effects seven generations into the future. However, we live in a time where short-term thinking is the cultural norm, a reality that is exacerbated by the accelerating pace of information streams on social media and the pervasive move-fast-break-things philosophy of those who build and promote these platforms.

    »In Search of Good Ancestors / Ahnen in Arbeit« will be a long-duration generative radio broadcast meant to modulate the attention of the listener, to allow the savouring of slow speech and audible nuance. The stream, which can be heard anytime via a public web portal, will feature an artificial broadcaster, a bespoke voice synthesis system that utilizes current deep learning techniques in voice synthesis and style transfer to be able to shift fluidly through speech and song, words and soundscapes, reading the text as if tracing slowly over the letters, probing them and unsettling them. Visitors may also add their own feelings towards time, responsible decision making, and what it means to be a good ancestor.

    The work is commissioned by Deutschlandfunk Kultur, CTM Festival, and ORF Austrian Broadcasting Service.