Mimicking synthetic speech in vocal performances

This paper will explore artistic experiments that critically engage with the aesthetics and technics of speech synthesis, subverting and blending the binaries of the supposedly polarized categories organic and mechanical. Ian Hatcher’s (https://ianhatcher.net/) virtuosic vocal performances— "Prosthesis" (2011), "Drone Pilot" (2015), and "Colony" (2017), in which he simulates the cadence and syntax of machine speech with the very analogue instrument of his own (human) voice— a practice I propose to call reversed posthuman ventriloquism, will serve as cases for study. In my analysis of Hatcher’s performances, I will be examining them within the context of the history of the art and technology of speech synthesis, as well as in relation to the tradition of experimental music performed by vocalists who use extended vocal techniques.