Best Beckett Speaker
1997
– 1997. Una casa molt particular. ACM. Mataró. (Group exhibition)
– 1998. Audio visual. Espais. Centre d’Art Contemporani. Girona. (One-person exhibition)
60 x 60 x 100 cm.
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A typical wooden chair holds between its arms an inflatable latex ball. In the base of the chair, a loudspeaker has been installed which, when sound is being emitted, causes the ball to vibrate in such a way that, if you place your hands on top of it, you have the sensation that you are feeling what you are hearing. The piece is illuminated by a ceiling light which focuses your attention on the scene.
The audio being emitted from the loudspeaker reproduces the reading aloud of the text of “The Image” by Samuel Beckett, written by the author without any punctuation marks. Starting with a transcript and using a rudimentary computer program for text reading, the voice is digitally recreated giving this audio piece a physical presence. The impersonal coldness of the synthetic voice and the artificial intonation provoked by the incompatibility between the lack of punctuation in the text and the parameters of the pre-designed oration in the program, evoke the anguished sensation of this discourse without a single pause or breathe. Corporeal nature is given in this manner to the physiological trace of the voice and the enablement of the exhaustion of the language pursued by the Irish author in its work.