I was inspired by the article “Virtual avatars: trans experiences of ideal selves through gaming”, written by Kai Baldwin. In this text, Baldwin investigates how online platforms (specifically role-playing games) influence the digital and, consequentially, physical embodiment of people who inhabit non-normative/queer bodies. In this specific case, trans people are in the foreground.

In the article, Baldwin mentions several interviews they conducted, all through messaging apps, and how they could see the level of engagement and excitement that the subject was feeling by noticing how fast they replied and how many typos the subject was making. A certain emotionality became then embedded on the messages that were exchanged, even if no voice was heard or face was seen. This was the main source of inspiration.

Its main material is the speed of typing and the mimicking of formant behaviour by having audio played inside the instruments through a tiny speaker or singing and changing fingering combinations. The rhythm that appears on the score corresponds to the (scaled) speed at which the computer performer types a text in real-time. This typed text is also sent as audio information to an oscilloscope (becoming actual text), which is itself live-fed to a projection so that the audience can read the text.

The text takes the form of an email based (but adapted with some creative liberties) that I sent years ago to a friend. As the computer performer types, the "letters information" of the computer keyboard is also sent to a Machine Learning system that generates, in real-time, a "fictitious" voice that was trained on my own speech. A phantasmic digital echo of my voice speaks as the performer types, sometimes its content being tangible, sometimes lost in the digital translation process.

This piece had its first tryout as part of a project with ONCEIM in 2024 - listen to excerpt here or here if Soundcloud doesn't work. It is currently still in development.