Wake Words

Exhibition
Kunstraum Niederoesterreich, Vienna, AT
01/10/2021-27/11/2021

An exhibition by and with The Golden Pixel Cooperative

Conceived by Enar de Dios Rodríguez, Olena Newkryta, and Marlies Pöschl

Artists:
Iris Blauensteiner & Rojin Sharafi, Enar de Dios Rodríguez, Eva Giolo, Nathalie Koger, Saadia Mirza, Joana Moll, Olena Newkryta & Nana Thurner, Pedro Oliveira, Bárbara Palomino Ruiz, Marlies Pöschl, Miae Son, Katharina Swoboda, Lisa Truttmann & Behrouz Rae, Diana Vidrascu, Clemens von Wedemeyer, Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries, Katarina Zdjelar

The departure point for the exhibition is the term “voice recognition”: It refers, on the one hand, to technological systems for language assistance and detection, which are silently creeping into many parts of our everyday lives. On the other, the second part of the formulation – recognition – indicates that this phenomenon already assumes a certain concept of a voice that is to be recognised. What is the basis of this (re)cognition? Which voices are heard, and which not? And isn’t there a potential advantage in remaining incognito?


Wake Words primarily presents moving image works and is thematically structured around the following four terms that obstruct the “correct” functioning of voice recognition systems: noise, echo, machine error, and improvisation. In this way, The Golden Pixel Cooperative activates visitors’ auditory perception. The open sound heard in the exhibition, designed by composer Rojin Sharafi, is based on the audio tracks of the works on display. The accompanying audio publication collects artistic-scientific contributions in the form of audio pieces.

Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries: Please Mistake Me For Nobody, 2017


Left: Lisa Truttmann & Behrouz Rae: Babash, 2014 Video, 9:02 min
Right: Saadia Mirza: A Phenomenology of Iceberg Collisions, 2021 Video, 10 min 

Left: Enar de Dios Rodríguez: Bresson’s Movies, 2015
Right: Eva Giolo: A Tongue Called Mother, 2019

Saadia Mirza: A Phenomenology of Iceberg Collisions, 2021 Video, 10 min