* ROBOT & THE END
A Comparative Critical Reading of the Staging of Synthesized Voices in Digital Media Performances
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7146/peri.v15i29/30.109640Nøgleord:
Hatsune Miku, Nao, THE END, ROBOT, Synthesized voices, gender binary, syntetiske stemer, binære kønsfremstillingerResumé
In this article, I present a critical comparative reading of the experiences of gender promoted by media performances that make use of synthesized voices in relation to the 3D animated vocaloid performance THE END (2012) and the multimedia dance performance ROBOT (2013). I argue that the staging of synthesized voices in THE END promotes a gender performativity of the heteronormative gender binary, creating a sexualized fetishization of the technological body. ROBOT, on the other hand, as a media performance utilizes the audio-visual bsody of a little robot to subvert gender stereotypes, demonstrating that the visual contextualization and framing of the synthesized voice matters in the representation of identities in digital media performances.
Referencer
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[Accessed: May 17th 2018].Phan, T., 2017. The Materiality of the Digital and the Gendered Voice of Siri. Transformations, 29, pp. 23-33.
Rahbek, B., 2016. Hun er 16 år, har millioner af fans - og findes ikke. [online] Available at: https://www.b.dk/nationalt/hun-er-16-aar-har-millioner-af-fans-og-findes-ikke [Accessed: February 18th 2018].
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Robertson, A., 2016. Google’s DeepMind AI Fakes Some of the Most Realistic Human Voices Yet. [online] Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/9/12860866/google-deepmind-wavenet-ai- text-to-speech-synthesis [Accessed: May 25th 2018].
Silverman, K., 1984. Dis-Embodying the Female Voice. In: Doane, M. A., Mellencamp, P., Williams, L., eds. 1984. Re-vision: Essays in Feminist Film Criticism. Los Angeles: University Publications of America, pp. 131-149.
Sjogren, B., 2006. Into the Vortex – Female Voice and Paradox in Film. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Sloan, Robin J.S., 2015. Virtual Character Design for Games and Interactive Media. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Stojnic, A., 2015. Digital Anthropomorphism. Performance Research: A Journal of The Performing Arts, 20(2), pp. 70-77.
Vaison Danses., 2014. Blanca Li - Robot ! - Festival Vaison Danses 2014. [image online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHCA1eEW7jI [Accessed: February 26th 2018].
Baird, A., Jørgensen, S.H., Parada-Cabaleiro, E., Cummins, N., Hantke, S., Schuller, B., 2018. The Perception of Vocal Traits in Synthesized Voices: Age, Gender, and Human-Likeness. JAES Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, vol. 66(4), pp. 277-285.
Bay-Cheng, S., Kattenbelt, C., Lavender, A., and Nelson, R., 2010. Mapping Intermediality in Performance. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
Bay-Cheng, S., 2015. Virtual Realisms: Dramatic Forays into the Future. Theatre Journal, 67, pp. 687–698.
Benyon, D., 2014. Designing Interactive Systems: A comprehensive guide to HCI, UX and interaction design, 3/E. Harlow: Pearson.
Bonada, J., and Serra, X., 2007. Synthesis of the Singing Voice by Performance Sampling and Spectral Models. IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, 24(2), pp. 67 – 79.
Brautigam, B., 2017. The New Skeuomorphism is in Your Voice Assistant. [online] Available at: https://uxdesign.cc/the-new-skeuomorphism-is-in-your-voice-assistant-3b14a6553a0e [Accessed: March16th 2018].
Bremers, A., 2015. “’The End’: a Virtual Opera Singer, Millions of Fans and the Meaning of Death.” Next Nature Network, [image online] Available at: http://nextnature.net/2015/09/end-opera-players-virtual/ [Accessed: April 28th 2018].
Butler, J., 1993. Bodies That Matter. New York: Routledge.
Butler, J., 2009. Performativity, Precarity and Sexual Politics. AIBR. Revista de Antropologia Iberoamericana, 4(3), pp. i-xiii.
Data.tokyogirl., 2015. Miku Hatsune’s Vocaloid Opera “THE END” to Be Performed in Shanghai Next! [image online] Available at: https://tokyogirlsupdate.com/miku-the-end-shanghai-20150751579.html [Accessed: May 26th 2018].
Dyson, F., 2014. The Tone of Our Times: Sound, Sense, Economy, and Ecology. Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
Ellen Jacobs Associates., 2015. From Paris with Robots. [image online] Available at: http://www.ejassociates.org/press_releases/from-paris-with-robots/ [Accessed: May 18th 2018].
Faber, L. W., 2013. From Star Trek to Siri: (Dis)Embodied Gender and the Acousmatic Computer in Science
Fiction Film and Television. Ph.D. Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Fèvre-Berthelot, A. L., 2013. Audio-Visual: Disembodied Voices in Theory. InMedia, [online] Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/inmedia/697 [Accessed: May 20th 2018].
Haraway, D., 1988. Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies, 14 (3), pp. 575-599.
Harris, R. A., 2005. Voice Interaction Design: Crafting the New Conversational Speech System. San Francisco: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers/Elsevier.
hooks, bell. 1984. Feminist Theory: from margin to center. New York: Routledge.
IBMBluemix, 2017. Using SSML. [online] Available at: https://console.bluemix.net/docs/services/text-tospeech/SSML.html#ssml [Accessed: April 25th 2018].
Jones, A., 2012. Seeing Differently. New York: Routledge.
Jørgensen, S. H., 2016a. Popstjerne af lys, lyd og software. [online] Available at: https://kunsten.nu/journal/popstjerne-lys-lyd-software/ [Accessed: April 15th 2018].
Jørgensen, S. H., 2016b. THE END: En Teknisk Operaoplevelse. [online] Available at: http://seismograf.org/the-end-en-teknisk-operaoplevelse [Accessed: May 26th 2018].
Jørgensen, S. H., Tafdrup, O., 2017. Technological Fantasies of Nao - Remarks about Alterity Relations. Transformations, 29, pp. 88-103.
Jørgensen, S. H., Vitting-Seerup, S., and Wallevik, K., 2017. Hatsune Miku : An uncertain image. Digital Creativity, 28(4), pp. 318 – 331.
Li, B., 2015. Robotic pop ballet for all future generations. [online] Available at: blancali.com/en/download/Robot2015-english.pdf/pdf_120_file_fr.pdf [Accessed: March 18th 2018].
Marinucci, M., 2016. Feminism is Queer: The intimate connection between queer and feminist theory. London and New York: Zed Books.
Mulvey, L., 1989. Visual and Other Pleasures. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Nakano, Y., Neff, M., Paiva, A.,Walker, M. ed., 2012. Intelligent Virtual Assistants. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Nass, C. and Brave, S., 2005. Wired for Speech: How Voice Activated and Advances the Human- Computer Relationship. Massachusetts: The MIT Press.
Nuance, 2013. Aldebaran robotics and Nuance revolutionize human–machine interaction. [online] Available at: http://whatsnext.nuance.com/connected-living/aldebaran-robots-nuance-revolutionize-human-machineinteraction/
[Accessed: May 17th 2018].Phan, T., 2017. The Materiality of the Digital and the Gendered Voice of Siri. Transformations, 29, pp. 23-33.
Rahbek, B., 2016. Hun er 16 år, har millioner af fans - og findes ikke. [online] Available at: https://www.b.dk/nationalt/hun-er-16-aar-har-millioner-af-fans-og-findes-ikke [Accessed: February 18th 2018].
Rigg, J., 2013. Nao robot to become even more of a chatterbox with new software (video). [online] Available at: https://www.engadget.com/2013/10/30/nao-robot-new-nuance-voice- software/ [Accessed: May 26th 2018].
Robertson, A., 2016. Google’s DeepMind AI Fakes Some of the Most Realistic Human Voices Yet. [online] Available at: https://www.theverge.com/2016/9/9/12860866/google-deepmind-wavenet-ai- text-to-speech-synthesis [Accessed: May 25th 2018].
Silverman, K., 1984. Dis-Embodying the Female Voice. In: Doane, M. A., Mellencamp, P., Williams, L., eds. 1984. Re-vision: Essays in Feminist Film Criticism. Los Angeles: University Publications of America, pp. 131-149.
Sjogren, B., 2006. Into the Vortex – Female Voice and Paradox in Film. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Sloan, Robin J.S., 2015. Virtual Character Design for Games and Interactive Media. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
Stojnic, A., 2015. Digital Anthropomorphism. Performance Research: A Journal of The Performing Arts, 20(2), pp. 70-77.
Vaison Danses., 2014. Blanca Li - Robot ! - Festival Vaison Danses 2014. [image online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHCA1eEW7jI [Accessed: February 26th 2018].
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2018-10-01
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Hasse Jørgensen, S. (2018). * ROBOT & THE END: A Comparative Critical Reading of the Staging of Synthesized Voices in Digital Media Performances. Peripeti, 15(29/30), 156–169. https://doi.org/10.7146/peri.v15i29/30.109640
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