S8 Ep3: The sea facing limb - Angela Terrill | Re:cognition

Somerset House Studios

Conversations about language. Artist Nick Ryan presents an ontological adventure into voice recognition, language, semiotics, sensory experience, immersive sound and imagination.

The series documents and delves into the research being undertaken by Nick Ryan and his collaborators for RE:COGNITION, an interdisciplinary project exploring the connection between the sound of spoken language) and meanings manifest in the physical world as sound or concepts otherwise capable of being represented sonically.
Angela Terrill is a Linguist and is known for her comprehensive study of Lavukaleve, a Papuan Language spoken on the Russell Islands in the Central Province of the Solomon Islands. Lavukaleve is described as an ‘isolate’ language, bearing little relation even to other languages in the Solomon Islands, despite having existed for many thousands of years. Through her knowledge of studying this unique language, Angela is able to share much about how a spoken language is formed, used and develops over time. The conversation has interesting implications for Nick in the creation of his Machine as Angela shares fascinating examples of both the cultural specificities of Lavukaleve and some qualities and functions of language that may be universal.
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In connection to this Nick Ryan presents The Gulf of Understanding (Re:cognition) as part of BONDS until 05 Jan 2020 at Gallery 31, Somerset House Studios’ new permanent exhibition space. The Gulf of Understanding (Re:cognition) taps into the magic of making sense, exploring the sound of spoken language and its relationship to sensation and matter. Inviting visitors to speak a word into a microphone, the installation uses machine learning and natural language processing to automatically represent these words as sounds. Simultaneously, a visualisation displays the words and their semantic relationships to related vocabulary.

Nick Ryan is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer exploring auditory representations of information, language, physical materiality and space through the creation of sound and multi-sensory installations, bespoke instruments and generative audio experiences.

Re:cognition is commissioned by CASE Foundation and currently is in the R&D phase.

Podcast produced by Nick Ryan and Jo Barratt for Somerset House Studios.