Wireless multichannel sound system worn by performers

breathing.systems is led by Nik Rawlings. This project will create a flexible, wireless multichannel sound system to be worn by performers, through which their vocal performances can be processed and amplified to explore ideas of remote networked presence, polymorphous bodies and vocal transformation.
breathing.systems expands on Nik’s previous practice as a vocalist – they have long been interested in the voice as a way of expressing a mediated relationship with alternate bodies in sound. Their work has often focussed on ideas of remote networked presence, polymorphous bodies and vocal transformation, using granular and spectral techniques to process their voice. 
breathing.systems expands on previous work that attempted to create fluid and relational bodies of sound that were formed by using performers to spatialise Nik’s voice using worn speakers – and creates a system for doing this live, which has not been possible before. 
At a time when Covid has made live group singing impossible, they’re interested in the possibility of creating a chorus of their own voice by temporarily inhabiting the presence of our performers. By working with a multi-speaker array, and ten performers, they therefore aim to create performances that use their processed and distributed voice to explore network modelling, clouds of voices and distributed presence.