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On The Table Read, “the best arts magazine in the UK“, sound artists Harry Yeff (Reeps100) and Trung Bao debut VOICE GEMS: 100 Year Archive, featuring voices preserved as individual gem stones.
The new 400 square metre immersive gallery will present wall-to-wall digital gemstone artworks from a selection of the VOICE GEM archive, as well as a public digital display across the facade’s three floors of bespoke LED screens.
The exhibition will explore the preservation of the most remarkable, influential and critically endangered voices, which encapsulates messages of love, death, hope and legacy.
VOICE GEMS is a generative system designed by Harry Yeff (Reeps100) and Trung Bao. The innovative 200,000 particle system harnesses the fingerprint-like features found in the human voice to generate the colours and the form of the digital and physical one-of-a-kind gemstones, to be stored in the 1000 YEAR VOICE GEMS ARCHIVE.
They are the first project in the world to produce gemstone artworks generated from human and animal voices. Contributors to the archive 2021 – 2022 include Ai Weiwei, Dr. Jane Goodall , Will.i.am, Sir Geoff Hurst, Herbert W. Franke, Felipe Pantone, Sougwen Chung, Reggie Watts, Kenny Schachter, Lily Cole, Aitor Throup, Klaus Schwab, Platon, Justin Aversano, Johann König, Jesse Damiani, Nancy Baker Cahill, Dejha Ti and Ania Catherine and more.
VOICE GEMS will also present a physical lab-grown gem “The Everlasting Memory” for the first time, a collaboration with football legend Sir Geoff Hurst, the first man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final. Hurst´s voice gem is a personal recording, recalling the event. Visitors can listen to the immortalised voices that produced the unique gemstone sculptures via QR codes.
The archive also collects vocal phenomena, expanding to AI synthetic voices and the voices of critically endangered species, and institutional collaborations with The World Economic Forum Messages of Hope collection, Koenig Gallery, Francisco Carolinum Linz, Ben Mirin of National Geographic and The Berggruen Institute.
The very first VOICE GEM was created in 2018 from the laughter between two lovers and was used to replace a traditional diamond engagement ring. The project has begun producing collaborative VOICE GEMS collections, manifesting as large-scale new-media, lab-grown physical pieces, installations, and sculptures. Notably Reeps100 and Trung Bao have produced rare pieces from recordings of loved ones who have passed on.
“VOICE GEMS is a technology-driven project which offers a novel form of digital and spiritual ceremony, with the human voice at its core. The gems we have created contain messages of love, death, hope and legacy. People desire a new way to define these themes and preserve memories, and we are providing them with an opportunity to accomplish this. Following our launch, we received hundreds of messages requesting gems from the voices of loved ones. I believe there is room for future traditions around the data and media we leave behind” – Reeps100
Mark Dale, founder of W1 Curates says – “After meeting Harry and finding out more about Voice Gems and the extreme talent he’s already worked with, for us, collaborating with him was a no-brainer. We (W1 Curates) love the fact that the Voice Gems is a saved moment in time that can be related to a loved one, a moment or an iconic figure you’ve aspired to for many years. Voice Gems are not only a powerful art project, it’s a real statement of time.”
Harry Yeff is a London-born neuro-divergent artist and technologist. Globally recognised as a pioneer in a new wave of voice and technology focused experimentation. Harry Yeff ( Reeps100 ) has been visualising the human voice for 15 years and his performative installations and machine-like vocal control have amassed over 100,000,000 views online.
Yeff completed three artist residencies at Harvard University, is a Culture leader at The World Economic Forum and has followed in the footsteps of John Cage and Rauschenberg by joining the legendary Experiments in Art and Technology program at Bell Labs. In 2020 Yeff won the Arts and Science Breakthrough with the Falling Walls Foundation for his ongoing portfolio of cutting edge voice and technology experimentation.
Trung Bao Nguyen is a multidisciplinary Vietnamese artist, leading vocal experimentalist and founder of Fustic. Studio – an award-winning creative collective originated in Vietnam.
His works lie at the intersection of technology and art, sound and image. He has worked with top brands and artists in the world to design narrative through visual media, motion, generative art & installations.
Combining his experience with his lifelong fascination with the human voice, Trung is on his journey to explore the human voice with creative technology and design.
Voice Gems are voice generated precious digital objects, created by Reeps100 and Trung Bao. The Voice Gems series is a vibrant, unprecedented meditation collecting the most remarkable, influential and critically endangered voices on Earth to generate digital gemstones.
Their voice-centered performance and artworks have generated a global following amassing over 100,000,000 views and a global portfolio of arts and institutional partners, showcasing at Miami Art Basel, Koenig Gallery, OOO.art, Davos 2022 and W1 Immersive London.
When a Voice Gem has been synthesised the pieces can be displayed as digital video, high resolution stills, large scale projection, NFTs, and 3D sculpture public art installations. Every voice is unique, and with that comes unique fingerprint-like meta-data that can be used for bespoke and human centred generative design.
Harry Yeff said “VOICE GEMS is creating a new way to collect, highlight and preserve voices and vocal phenomena. We have already replaced diamond engagement rings, preserved first and last words and now highlighted some of the most unique minds on the planet with voice generated gemstones. People are seeking new ways to highlight our most fundamentally human experiences with technology. VOICE GEMS is a new method of connection.”
Trung Bao said “VOICE GEMS is creating a new way for people to experience and connect with voices. Highlighting, preserving and amplifying unique, important voices along with the vulnerable ones through a medium that people can see, touch and connect with through different sensories is something very special”
W1Curates public art platform prides it’s self-bringing powerful art to the people. At the heart of
London’s iconic Oxford Street, we’ve transformed the exterior of Flannels London Flagship store into
an extraordinary public art exhibition. Using state-of-the-art technology, we exhibit the best art with
digital prowess and unmissable innovation.
A new experience of immersive art is here. Dissolving the barriers between the physical and digital
worlds, W1 Immersive combines passion for art, state of the art technology, multimedium expertise,
and the sheer will to break new ground in the shape of a purpose-built immersive gallery housed
with in the already successful W1Curates public art platform.
Exhibition address
W1 Immersive (Basement at Flannels, London)
161-167 Oxford Street, London, W1D 2JP
Harry Yeff
Website – www.reeps100.com
IG – @reepsone
Twitter – @reeps1
Trung Bao
IG – @tbaocreate
Twitter – @TBaoCreate
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