DVD – ((audience))

Written as a quadrophonic audio work in three movements, Cricket, Tree, Crow explores the vocal mimicry of the sounds produced by members of these species, focusing on the imitation of forms of expression unnatural for human vocal apparatus. Stephanie Loveless declares an interest in the relationships between different voices, in particular “other” kinds of expression within the animal and vegetable world. It might be possible to hypothetically ascribe “vocal expressions” to the sounds released by cricket or crows, though it is perhaps more difficult to do the same for maples. The theme explored here has been considered by a number of artists, for example AGF, who manipulates frequencies to affect timbres and intonations and creates alternate worlds. An enormous number of animal and vegetable species engage in mimicry and imitating forms of nature are among the most charming aspects of the natural sciences. There is also a school of thought that suggests that all art is nothing but mimicry, a loss of identity, an essential escape from aggressive-defensive dynamics, actions that are fundamentally ecological and rational. In this case the experiment is based on sound research at the Studio XX, a center for media art in Montréal; the work was realized during a two-month project of artistic residence at the beginning of 2012. We compliment ((audience)), a young label releasing its second work for deciding to publish the results of this project in DVD with DTS surround and stereo sound.