command_Ü for singer, live-electronICS and video (2024)

command_Ü examines the gendered performativity of the voice, questioning how speech synthesis transforms not only language but also identity itself. Beginning with the IBM 704, a pioneer in computational speech, its rendition of Daisy Bell marking a moment in the history of artificial voices. Inspired by Laurie Anderson’s The Language of the Future and the IBM 7094, the first computer to “sing,” command_Ü draws on Anna Schürmer’s Theory of Ü-Music to delve into the unscripted interplay between human expression, technological systems, and artistic creativity. Through music, voice, and video as an inseparable whole, the piece challenges us to reconsider how machines, voices, and technologies reshape our understanding of gender and identity.

command_Ü premiered at the Ceremony of the Kölner Designpreis at the Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln (MAKK) on November 21, 2024.

The project was developed in close cooperation with Ahmetcan Gökçeer (electronics, composition, performance) and Camilla Angolini (video).