MEDIA RELEASE

May 17, 2001

For Immediate Release

The Walter Phillips Gallery presents Computer Voices/Speaking Machines, an innovative, interactive exhibition featuring the inspired work of new media artists David Rokeby and Émile Morin & Jocelyn Robert. These artists address the loss of voice, identity, and free speech at the turn of the Millennium and in the wake of new technologies.

In this exhibition speech and song, our fundamental means of communication, are altered. Their new manifestation evokes questions about the changing role of communication in an increasingly technological human network. Computer Voices/Speaking Machines features La Salle des Noeuds III, an audiovisual installation by Morin and Robert that employs electrical relays to transmit sounds and images from the Internet, and n-Cha(n)t, a networked community of language-capable artificial agents, created by Rokeby, that make their own associations as punsters, poets, and experts.

Computer Voices/Speaking Machines is produced by Sara Diamond, artistic director of Media and Visual Arts at The Banff Centre, and will be held in association with the Centre’s Television and New Media Co-Production department. Funding for this exhibition was provided in part by the Canadian Millennium Partnership Program (CMPP).

"This important exhibition offers viewers an expanded look at the realms of possibility as modern technology merges with human development in the 21^st century ," said the Honourable Herb Gray, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister responsible for the Government of Canada’s millennium initiative. "The Government of Canada proudly supported 2000 Voices – Celebrating the Creative Voices of Canada with a partial financial contribution of up to a maximum of $76,000 through the Canada Millennium Partnership Program."

This program contributed up to one third of eligible project costs, while the private sector and other organizations provided the remaining funding. CMPP-supported projects promoting our history, youth, arts and culture, environment and the development of our communities.

The exhibition runs from May 19 through July 29, 2001. The Opening Reception on Friday, May 18 at 7:00 pm, and the Artists’ Talk on Saturday, May 19 at 2:00 pm are open to the public. The Walter Phillips Gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free.

The Banff Centre is Canada's only post-secondary institution dedicated to the arts, leadership development, and mountain culture. Programs are designed to enrich professional practice beyond the realm of traditional education.

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