Open Source
Live sound performance, voice, goo, clay egg, digital animation, Avatar Lilith, black felt box
Open Source, performed on April 27th, 2023 at VSRL for connectedmatter’s debut event series opening, examines the in-between spaces of materiality transference across virtual and physical spaces. What happens when we give flesh to intangible and seemingly inconsequential and abstract ideas that describe aspects of virtuality? Specifically, when these concepts attempt to describe techno-hierarchy and systems of control and power between constituents of networked spaces?
Open Source expands the idea of boundaries and membranes as it relates to algorithms and technology. The Black Box is an engineering and computer science term that describes a device or system which produces output (data) without revealing any information about its internal mechanism. This presents an asymmetry of power between developers, technology, corporations, and “users.” With AI becoming more present in our cultural exchanges, how can we exist in a future that holds truth and veritability as a pillar of society? How can we be true to ourselves and each other? By giving the Black Box flesh and blood, Open Source attempts to reimagine the boundaries and membranes between both bodies that generate internal and external motion (Avatar Lilith and the Black Box). Inside this phyiscal black box filled with goo is an egg instrument producing live rattling sounds throughout the performance. It acts as an instrument with its own body, filling up the space with it’s resonance along with Avatar Lilith’s lyrics.