bocca/mikro is an audiovisual improvisatory network collaboration between Canadian composer and
performer Andrea Young and Estonian audiovisual artist Alo Allik. In this performance, the worlds of vocal experimentation, interactive machines and audiovisual environments collide as the catalysing vocal input of bocca provides a source for the mikro system and the ensuing audiovisual environment, exploring the cultural and technological connotations of the schism between the natural and the artificial.
bocca is an improvisation for voice and voice-controlled electronics which uses vocal feature extraction to control variables in algorithmic synthesizers. The combination of amplified voice morphing into voice controlled machine noise extends the human voice, infuses electronics with the vocal envelopes and blurs the boundaries between voice and electronic sound.
mikro is an audiovisual improvisation system comprised of artificial improviser agents who learn about
musical structure from the incoming vocal improvisation as well as from other musical examples with the aid of various machine listening and learning algorithms. mikro was created in the process of exploring artificially intelligent computational strategies for live performance.
Andrea Young is a Canadian composer and vocal performer living in Valencia, California, where she is completing a DMA at The California Institute of the Arts. During this residency, Andrea is researching vocal feature extraction, voice-controlled electronics and live electronic processing while preparing compositions that integrate this research with practical experimentation.
Alo Allik is an Estonian artist who has performed his audiovisual works, electroacoustic compositions, eclectic DJ sets and live electronic music throughout the world at some rather renowned and other more obscure events and festivals. His aesthetically and geographically restless lifestyle has enabled him to traverse a diverse range of musical worlds including DJ-ing electronic dance music, live electronic jam sessions, electroacoustic composition, free improvisation and audiovisual performances.