Ana Maria Rodriguez / Melita Dahl: code switching

As if through an optical-acoustic magnifying or miniaturising glass, aspects of language and personality are viewed anew and strange connections are created that can be irritating. Behind the complexity of this multi-perspective view is a clearly defined source material: the smallest meaningful linguistic unit of language: the phoneme served as the basis for both the musical structures and the video images. The voice artist Ute Wassermann created the acoustic elements and her face was photographed in a variety of staged moods.

The presentation situation is just as concentrated as the material. Ute Wassermann's head is projected four times on four extra-large screens. The parallel images differ in expression, but the formal structure does not vary. Using the technique of photo-morphing, Melita Dahl has animated the individual photos into film sequences. Using this technique, the face is broken down into individual components, through which the transformation of one facial expression into another can be determined. The result is a continuum of expressive transformation that brings signs of fear and desire, for example, into an oppressive proximity.

Ana Maria Rodriguez also works with a continuum in the acoustic layer, in this case a sonic-semantic one: phonemes are explored in their sonic spectrum and clustered into rhythmic figures - sometimes they are reminiscent of words and then refer to a semantic space. In the composition on which the performance with Ute Wassermann is based, a formal dramaturgy is created in which areas of vocal articulation are concentrated in the individual sections. Language is fanned out into a sonic network of meaning and sound that generates a new, unique linguistic space. The musical process created from the speech sounds takes place quadrophonically in the space and condenses with the transformations in the optical layer.

In the installation, the optical and acoustic processes are connected with each other through programmed generative interfaces. The result is a flow of constantly renewing sound-image connections. The performance with Ute Wassermann is based on a notated composition and a live control of electronics and image.

The permanent change of codes creates a complex and surprising intrasemiotic network of optical, acoustic and semantic elements that opens up a new space of meaning that can be experienced by the senses.