Baby Talk

I stopped by Kiehle the other day to check out the sound installation art in the main gallery. There were three different artists on display, all of which were very different and each had on display visual art as well as sonic art. The fist sound I noticed was the voice of what sounded like a baby making unrecognizable speech sounds. The baby's voice was played out of a "super cube" speaker which sat on a table next to a projector. The speaker was small and white and looked like a baby monitor, which could have been intended by the artist. The projector was projecting a colored square which slowly changed gradient to different colors in a looped cycle. The baby's voice was on a loop, several minutes long, and could be heard clearly throughout the space. Although I am usually not the biggest fan of baby audio, it was very interesting how the constant sound of a rambling baby changes the way you perceive the other visual works in the space. When viewing paintings by other artists, the baby's voice is coupled to the visual artwork in the overall, perceptual experience. The colors chosen for the projection as well as the timbre and other acoustic qualities of the recording created an innocent, pure, and simple aesthetic. I believe it was effective as sound installation art. When you enter the gallery as well as how long you stay changes your experience of the baby audio. Because it is on a loop you could enter and begin hearing it at any time during the recording. Also if you stay for an hour, you will hear the baby the whole time, which could be a an intense psychological experience considering it gets a little creepy after a while, especially because there is a giant black organ with slowly rotating skull speakers in the corner. The audio is on a loop but it is difficult to tell. I do not think it was intended to seem like a looped recording of any specific phrase or section of baby talk. There isn't really a melody to the baby's voice but it has a pleasant musical quality. There is a slight rhythm to the way the baby rambles, probably because it has to take breaths. Also the recording is of a voice but it lacks any distinguishable semantic content. I believe it was intended mostly to create the feeling and atmosphere of a small person playing with the creation of sound for the first time, or something like that. There was much more happening there which I could talk more about but I would like to read what others will say about the additional sound art, as well as "the baby one".