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              viduals or groups to access the work atonce. It also means they 
              share and con- tribute to the same large pool of information. Upon 
              interaction the individual's voice is stored by the computer system, 
              which additionally, analyses the speech for salient characteristics. 
              The analysis is sonic rather than semantic and is therefore language 
              independent. Charac- teristics include such things as: phrase length, 
              pitch and pitch 'shape', loudness, 'roughness', dynamic range etc. 
              Once analysed, the system makes comparisons with previous recordings, 
              finding similar patterns of speech in a database. After speaking, 
              the individual's voice is played back over a loudspeaker system 
              with voice fragments from the past overlaid and juxtaposed. In this 
              fashion, people communicate with past events, past thoughts and 
              expressions - the qualities of their voice summoning forgotten messages 
              from the installation. The public lends 
              something of themselves
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              through their engagement, and the work is continually replenished 
              and marked with their imprint. Far from passive or fixed, Summoned 
              Voices is an evolving en- vironment where the installation acts 
              as medium, providing dialogue between past and present.  The 
              work was premiered at the Art In Output Festival at the Technische 
              Universiteit Eindhoven, Netherlands in February-March 2003. Three 
              door in- stallations were assembled on-site using local recycled 
              building materials and the computer system was installed with a 
              small database of sounds prepared in advance in Australia. This 
              database ac- ted as a seed for interaction. Within hours of opening 
              to the public, the new work transformed into something very Dutch, 
              taking on the content, colour and rhythms of the language. It encapsulated 
              the thoughts, expressions, wishes and humour of the various groups 
              that engaged with it. The ambience of the exhibition space also 
              entered the recor-dings along with sounds  |