S8 Ep1: Re:cognition - Nick Ryan | Trailer

Somerset House Studios

Artist Nick Ryan presents an ontological adventure into voice recognition, language, semiotics, sensory experience, immersive sound and imagination.

RE:COGNITION is an interdisciplinary project exploring the connection between the sound of spoken language) and meanings manifest in the physical world as sound or concepts otherwise capable of being represented sonically: an ontological adventure into voice recognition, language, semiotics, sensory experience, immersive sound and imagination.

The series documents and delves into the research being undertaken by Nick Ryan and his collaborators. It will guide listeners through aural exploration into AI, linguistics and semiotics.

In connection to this Nick Ryan presents The Gulf of Understanding (Re:cognition) as part of BONDS at Gallery 31, Somerset House Studios’ permanent exhibition space which opens September 2019. The Gulf of Understanding (Re:cognition) taps into the magic of making sense, exploring the sound of spoken language and its relationship to sensation and matter. Inviting visitors to speak a word into a microphone, the installation uses machine learning and natural language processing to automatically represent these words as sounds. Simultaneously, a visualisation displays the words and their semantic relationships to related vocabulary.

Nick Ryan is a multi-disciplinary artist and composer exploring auditory representations of information, language, physical materiality and space through the creation of sound and multisensory installations, bespoke instruments and generative audio experiences.

Re:cognition is commissioned by CASE Foundation and currently is in the R&D phase.

Podcast produced by Nick Ryan and Jo Barratt for Somerset House Studios.