When recording my work for Followers (2012), I remembered hearing Ayanah Moor speak at AUT about her work, All My Girlfriends (2011).
I was always going to install my work in the studio space, instead of the elevator, because I enjoyed the way you could hear my droning voice as you walked through the studio space. When you arrive in my space, you are able to hear exactly what I'm saying, and finally, properly engage with the work. It reminds me of the performance I did in Talk Week, where my voice drew people in from different parts of the studio. Perhaps this work, on some level, does the same. When you arrive at the space, you encounter a small speaker, with two little speakers on the top facing outwards at opposite angles. I chose to have small speakers because I did not want to take away from the voice. Instead, the big, droning voice that one can hear throughout the studio, is only coming out of a small space. I could liken this to the way in which we use our digital voices in the small boxes we call computers, but I'll leave that for now.
I thought about Moor's work throughout my setting up process, and the recording process too. She uses an "audio book" like voice too. Her afflictions and pauses are used only when they need to be. It's as though she is introducing pageant contestants to the stage. Mine, however, needed to be a little more monotone. I was indeed reading the title of a persons blog and their follower numbers, but I wanted them all to be equal and speak for themselves. I knew that the affliction in my voice could make something SOUND interesting, however, the names and numbers themselves are already interesting and do not need unnecessary dressing up.
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