Ursonate / Ursonography Excerpts (2005)

Highlights from the premiere of "Ursonography" by Jaap Blonk and Golan Levin, 2005. Blonk's performance of Kurt Schwitters' Ursonate is augmented with a modest but elegant new form of expressive, real-time, "intelligent subtitles." With the help of computer-based speech recognition and score-following technologies, projected subtitles are tightly locked to the timing and timbre of Blonk's voice, and brought forth with a variety of dynamic typographic transformations that reveal new dimensions of the poem's structure. Performed at Ars Electronica, September 2005.

Complete information about the project, including links to unedited half-hour videos, can be found at http://www.flong.com/projects/ursonography/.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• jaap_blonk
• golan_levin
• ursonate
• schwitters
• performance
• subtitles
• typography
• interactive
• new_media

[purepassion02]

Is there a full half an hour long version of this anywhere?

[golanlevin]

@purepassion02 Yes, you can find complete information (including links to full versions) at my web site.

[supermarky]

this is a gorgeous performance! have to say in the sections I know really well, having done them myself, that it can be pretty sloppy lol but. . . that's really only a big problem if you are looking at the score or know the piece too well, even then it's not an insurmountable condition. I think KS would enjoy this interpretation, I certainly did. this piece can go in a completely different directions like very loud forceful, scary, or instead hilarious, really emphasizing the comedy in the piece

[golanlevin]

Keep in mind that the live subtitles are triggered completely automatically in response to the sound of his voice. In some cases the computer makes an error of judgement or timing; this is why it sometimes appears "sloppy".

[policescum]

versteh ich nicht

[golanlevin]

Dude, ist es ein Unsinnsgedicht!

[corey949]

I think of Berio's vocal lines as being less patterned or at least in less detail than the highly articulated Ursonate. I think of some of Bobby Mc Ferrin's stunning improvisations. In my experience as both performer and listener, the human voice is inexhaustibly expressive. I wonder if anyone's ever done a book or a film on extended vocal forms in global performance? From Tibetan chanting to the Roy Hart Theatre, Korean Pansori, scat singing, Chinese opera, Klingon opera (!) and more!

[safd2009]

What's wrong with people

[lovelplants]

rinnzeke.. rakete bee bee...lol

[WdowgeNZ]

I just happend to search "Rakete Bee Bee" today.

[samurai1833]

It's Pootie Tang!

[Iambosnianful]

WIEVIEL!?? Ich wiederhole WIEVIEL!? >>>LANGEWEILE<<<< muss man haben um sowas zu machen ?

[jollyZOLLIE]

The red light just adds to the creepiness of it all.

[morrow71]

@supermarky ooooh la dee da. You did it too? So did I. But I did it perfectly. Don't ask for a link though I lost it.

[koloki8ia2]

somebody shoot me please. now !