Secondly the karaoke format lends itself perfectly to creating self-awareness within a group setting through the use of voice and amplification. After looking at the work of Dan Graham and Susan Hiller I wanted to explore the voice in greater detail especially its connection with self-awareness and the lived body. In the act of speaking/singing we are so tuned into our voice and how it is being received by others.

 

"As soon as we open our mouths and speak we are judged. Instant assumptions are made about us by others; about our intelligence, our background, class, race, our education, abilities and ultimately our power. As listeners we do this to each other all the time".

Rodenburg, P. The Right to Speak, Methuen Drama: 1992.

 

During the Angels Den I experimented with this format by presenting my question via a microphone and PA. Hearing my overly amplified voice within the small constraints of the space made my self-awareness increase rapidly to the point where hearing the sounds I was creating being bounced back at me almost prevented me from speaking. The awareness feedback loop was so heightened that it almost prevented me from moving forward.

 

The idea is that the particpants of PART1 will see that the microphone output leads to a different (initially unknown) place which will also heighten the self-awareness due to not knowing where theire voices will be amplified.

 

The choice of song for the audio backing of the karaoke video is Billy Ocean's Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car. I chose the track due to its general overriding 80s karaoke feel but also due to its lyrical content surrounding the mind/dreams and car, which i thought fit nicely with the ideas of perception in the work and the fact that according to the news-clipping Terence Bull abandoned his car before his death. I re-recorded the track to create a rudimentary sound quality that is slightly muffled and of limited depth to emphasise the home entertainment aspect of karaoke, which is also mirrored in the housing of the DVD/TV combi. I feel that this quality is important to the work as I explore performance space and the personal/home-made quality of such space rather than elaborately staged spectacle.