My Computer Is Sitting In A Room

A reimagining of Alvin Lucier's I Am Sitting In A Room

Here my laptop is recording itself reciting the script from Lucier's I Am Sitting In A Room (1969) from its built-in speaker into its built-in mic over and over, until, as the script says: "the resonant frequencies of the room reinforce themselves so that any semblance of my speech, with perhaps the exception of rhythm, is destroyed." Or, perhaps in this case, the technological failings of my laptop's built-in sound equipment are exposed.

This is part of my investigation into realising my 'interference loop feedback system' as described here.

Having successfully emulated Lucier's sound piece technically, albeit in a low-fi way. The next stage would be to try and automate this process so that the system can generate the recordings of itself by itself and operate as a standalone system.

This experiment is interesting on its own as, like Lucier, the computer has a speech impediment the irregularities of which are eventually smoothed out by the process. It's also worth noting that apart from being prompted by myself to re-record after each take the computer is operating on its own, or rather sitting in a room on its own. Again, automating the computer to speak and record, and re-record all by itself would add weight to this potential work, giving it an eerie take on Lucier's original, by both celebrating the power of technology, but also exposing its shortcomings.

I had originally set out to record the electronic and mechanical sounds of my computer reciting Lucier's script for I Am Sitting In A Room using the techniques described in my post on electromagnetic recording. This, perhaps, should be the subject of my next post.

Additionally, another version of this piece with good quality speakers and microphone should be attempted, along with the automation of the recording process as discussed above.