Imaginary Forces ‘CT Room’ excursion for experimental broadcast The Radius
Fancy something on more of an abstract electronics tip? If you do, then Imaginary Forces 2011 recording for Radius will fill the void nicely.
Recorded for the Chicago based experimental broadcast Radius – this is CT Room, a 43 minute excursion into patch-worked sound sources.
Imaginary Forces – Episode 18 (CT Room)
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CT Room is a collage of field recordings taken from various online video chat rooms and instant messenger services. In many of the recordings, the subjects that chose to type responses instead of speak, were unaware that they had left their computer microphones on. In some of these cases, the computer was left on even after the person had stopped chatting. Hart was able to record the sounds of these seemingly empty spaces and the personal conversations that would take place outside the designated chat space.
The compiled recorded sounds have been processed only minimally and arranged into a compositional structure. All sounds used are as recorded, complete with defects due to bit rate/streaming. Once arranged apart from the accompanying visual aspects, the sounds become abstracted from their original context and open up to interpretation. The sounds take on a sinister tone and speak to a certain kind of panopticism; a voyeurism where those being watched are perhaps only subconsciously aware that they are potentially being observed by someone else.