Without Persons, 2008

Luis Jacob - Toronto, Canada

Multimedia Installation

"Without Persons" is a multi-media installation centered around two computer-generated male and female voices speaking about being-in-the-city and being-with-others. Accompanying the audio are two video screens which will abstractly and resonantly illustrate the spoken text. The artificial voices speak in an earnest manner about being with others in society -- voices that seem to belong to the concerned but disembodied surrogate-parents of an uncannily absent child.

As audience members, it is within us that is produced the primal scene of conception and birth, the emergence of our budding consciousness, and our entry into a well-managed existence. The eagerness to communicate expressed by these caring, parental voices contrasts poignantly with the inhuman aura of artificial speech.

Suitable for all ages