Thoughts Becoming Loud
Thoughts Becoming Loud (2019) explores the complexity of a moment through impressionistic multimedia works: an interactive portrait, a small-edition large-scale heavyweight magazine, and oversized prints. The show’s title comes from a German diagnostic term, Gedankenlautwerden, for a patient who hears their thoughts spoken aloud as they think. The works present out-loud, and in physical space, a profusion of notions, co-existing in us within a single instant: fantasy, projection, nostalgia, memory, long-held beliefs.
What kind of machine is our mind, that can turn sensory surplus into a seemingly uninterrupted fluid stream of consciousness? Often confusing, mismatched or contradictory, it is incredible that we can make sense of what bounces around inside. Thoughts Becoming Loud is an orchestration of these abundant impressions.
The exhibition centers on a generative audio visual composition, which pulls from hundreds of audio recordings and over 30 videos to synthesize a kaleidoscopic portrait of one woman’s inner dialogue. By selecting video elements, the user determines what occupies the woman’s mind, attempting to slow, silence, focus, blend, or amplify consciousness. The piece invites users to examine the modern condition of constant distraction, by focusing on what happens in a single moment in time.
The accompanying print works make meaning of a half-decade of disparate moments. The magazine’s pages mimic the untidy process of remembering, pairing and juxtaposing impressions from a short period of life. Framed prints pull some of these impressions into focus, concentrating a sense of a life based in Middle America.
Together, the works evoke an emotional story of a moment in time: the collision of memory, cognition, and the unconscious.
The interactive website portion of the project was programmed by Colin McArdell
Watch the demo video here.