Progress Barks, 2022
In collaboration with Robert M. Ochshorn.
After crossing the main entrance, in the space that doubles as a lobby and office, we realize that the barking comes from within the room. From there, and behind a second glass door that gives access to the exhibition, the sound becomes much more present
It's almost summer and the sun shines on the bright white walls. Although the exterior light bathes the interior during opening hours, rows of halogen lights embedded in the ceiling add unnecessary even light.
Inside, there are five loudspeakers attached to the walls. They have been installed half a meter above the floor. One, very close to the access, on a corner. Another, on the wall to our right. A third, on the central wall that divides the space in two. We must go around a free wall to find the fourth and fifth speakers. They are placed in such a way that they seem to speak from the closest and the farthest place to the entrance, respectively, delimiting the perimeter. On the plan, the loudspeakers describe a giant "R".
The barks have been generated by an artificial intelligence. Each of the tracks captures five different moments of a training that aims to teach a computer to bark. The sound is unedited, full of abrupt cuts, clicks and noise. It is arbitrarily mixed, forming a jumble in space.
Anyone can recognize the animality of sound, but it is also easy to get lost in the discontinuities of sound, but it is also easy to get lost in the discontinuities that place the listening object in an ambiguous place. The only way to identify its particularities is by wandering, approaching or moving away from the speakers.
Thanks to Marc Navarro, Aida Boix, Edgar de Ramón and Noor Al-Samarrai, as well as the additional support of Anna Manubens and Carolina Jiménez from HANGAR, Barcelona.