The Youth Sat in A Room Together

BY Jabari “Abe” Butler

The Youth Sat in a Room Together is an interactive communication installation in which two people engage in prompted conversation using a combination of 64 audio samples. 

This project grew from a moment when my interest in how we as humans communicate with each other peaked. Language means so much to the formal connection that we use to bond with the world around us. In this piece I wanted to create something that challenged an intentional communication, with the goal of expression using a completely foreign language. At its core, this project questions the relationship between knowledge and communication. As one increases how does the other get effected. I wanted to test this by taking away the knowledge of the traditional tools we use to engage in meaningful communication. With a new and limited set of tools, could real meaningful communication still occur? How quickly could two people establish meaning  in a collection of seemingly random sounds?

The best case scenario as a performing music artist is being able to leave the show feeling as if the performance was a medium for connecting to the audience members. The worst case scenario is leaving feeling like I stood up on a soapbox and performed down without any regard for the presence they brought to the space. Art is a shared moment, a piece in time when the artist, in service, provides, and then the consumer/s agree. 

In this installation the agreement was to physically join me on stage, as well as to trust in me to be open and adaptive in interaction. I remember at times adjusting my mind and focus in order to truly be present in the moment, allowing myself to receive and be moved by the message of the person sitting across from me. I rank the success of the interaction by the response it provoked in myself and the person interacting. Whether it was a laugh, a physical change, imitation, confusion, or consideration, it made me sure something happened as a result of the communication. It could especially be remembered by sensation. 

I remember being moved by the prompt “What were you like as a child?”  That conversation fell into both a rhythmic and conceptual harmony between a distortion of the poem and a musical note. We laughed and it felt as if we could’ve sat in the chairs for a while longer truly digesting the meaning of what took place. This type of moment occurred in many of these conversations and is much better portrayed in video rather than in words. 

The goal for this project is to continue to change and evolve the 64 samples and develop the music around the event as conceptual themes. I want to be able to have these “conversations” with many more people and continue to explore the idea of communicating through non-conventional means.