Lukas Truniger
Déjà Entendu | An Opera Automaton - Installation - 2015
presented as part of the exhibition Panorama 17
The structure of language – musical at its origin – is the source of this work. Based on texts and melodies originating from operas of the Faust myth (the epic of human curiosity and its limits), the installation explores the underlying contour of language.
An object made of industrial objects. 102 screens and speakers creating an immersive space, arranged in repetitive patterns. Blowing up the virtual into space. Phrases and melodies of the vocalists are constantly reproduced using machine learning software. Powerful algorithms, omnipresent in our society, which are in permanent interaction with us. Transforming our way to speak and write.
It is a game with the boundaries of perception. The point where language loses its meaning and becomes abstract. Language which is pushed to its limits, where nothing is left but pure rhythmic and melodic structure. It is the organic nature of language, imitated by a machine. This reveals the proper poetics – in all its absurdity – of the digital.
