VOICE YARD
In collaboration with Diana Pankova, Olya Pylypenko and Maryam Mumladze
Voice Yard is an online space created to encourage people to listen and be heard. It was conceived as an ethnographic research project in the hopes of unmuting voices in cyberspace. The project has been exhibited in 2020 at Tbilisi Architecture Biennial, Goethe-Institut in Georgia, Aalborg University in Denmark and Lahore Digital Arts Festival in Pakistan
Hi!
Welcome to voice yard – a digital space dedicated to listening
Used to perceiving our world mostly visually, we sometimes forget that sound is another important means of perception and communication. Every object reveals itself not only through its shapes and colors, but also through sounds, sometimes even more telling about its essence. We, humans, have always used our voices as an important means of self-expression and communication. There are familiar metaphors revealing its existential importance, such as “inner voice” and “voice of the heart,” referring to an intimate “true nature” inherent in this human ability.
Using voice for everyday communication is as natural as breathing or walking, so we seldom pay much attention to the way we sound, and how we, or others, feel about it. But this changes when it comes to recorded voices. When there is no other representation but the sound alone, it suddenly merits close attention, and acquires special meaning in itself.
Sound recordings are a good way to face voices, to feel more deeply what sound brings to our comprehension. But at the same time they can create the frustrating situation of hearing one's own voice, or even voices of very familiar people, sounding differently from what our ears are used to “in reality.”