Seeming somewhat gimmicky at first, "Taiwa Hensokuki," a 2006 work by Mohri Yuko, is comprised of two IBM laptop computers that have speech synthesis software installed - one set to move from text to speech; the other set to speech recognition. Mohri's work, included in the Extended Senses exhibition, provides a new setting for a technological function by challenging the computers to interact with themselves rather than with the typical human user. The two wall-mounted computers are set up to have a conversation by transmitting and exchanging their data, which in turn cycles and morphs into something mundane and incoherent. In fact, Taiwa means 'dialog' in Japanese, and Hensokuki can be translated as 'transmission.' The text that one computer reads aloud is analyzed by the other, which reads out the results for the other to analyze, back and forth like a loop; a process repeated throughout the day. Via 2 RCA cables feeding into an amp, the looping conversation is broadcast over two uncased speakers. The discombobulated results from the digital gabfest, in a Japanese femme-bot monotone, allude to the sensitivity of technological input and the fragility of function. In the end, the results are recorded via a suspended Epson printer about four meters above with paper descending and folding upon itself.
Vicente Gutierrez