Tongues (2019) is based on conversational applications, as well as text-to-speech and speech-to-text conversion technologies. The work creates a dialogue between two voices originating in automatic speech translation applications, that is audible in the exhibition space. “Carmit” and “Majid” are synthesized generic voices, their speech capabilities developed from and are based on digital sounds in Hebrew and Arabic. Ostensibly responding to one another, they repeat words in both languages. Original music is intermittently played in the background, designed to accompany the emotional frequencies absent from the speakers’ voices. The meeting between the two speakers generates a chain reaction of vocal repetitions. As the voices are gradually drawn away from their original tone, the phrases become vague and the differences between the languages increasingly ambiguous. The work pinpoints a certain form of digital communication in a manner that causes it to fail, as the original goal of the translation application is to aid in conducting a dialogue, whereas here, the emphasis is accorded to a deficiency in clarity due to the mix of languages. Zlekha Levy explores a history of misunderstandings, linguistic inventions, and leaks between the neighboring languages, relating to conversation management and translation applications as both a problem and a solution.
Programming : Khen Price / Translation and Language Consultancy: Natheer Taha (‘Ulban’) / Musical production: Aviad Zinemanas, Omer Schonberger / Mix: Aviad Zinemanas / Cinematography: Hila Ido / Lypsinc: Dor Zlekha Levy, Yafit Ido
This work was produced with the support of the Ostrovsky Family Fund.