KIMA: Voice by Analema Group

Analema Group’s KIMA: The Voice

KIMA: Voice is one of Analema Group’s signature project and was nominated for the Lumen Prize 2020.

KIMA: Voice has previously been exhibited at Event Two Exhibition at the Royal College of Art, The Great Exhibition Road Festival, as well as The National Gallery London and the Barbican Centre. Sounds of two participants are being analysed for harmonies. Meaningful sound patterns between their voices – vocal harmonies – are presented in real-time as a recognisable visual form, allowing interactants – who might never have met each other – to explore resonances within their vocal signatures in real time. 

Harmonies such as the perfect fourth, perfect fifth and unison, measured as ratios between participants’ vocal frequencies are mapped onto specific geometry: The artwork turns into a visual tuner, a visual sound instrument, that encourages participants to harmonise with each other. 

Developed over the course of several iterations since 2018, KIMA: Voice was initially shown at By Other Means Gallery 2018, Art in Flux exhibition 2018 and the Digital Catapult London (2018), before being turned into a more complex artwork with added features and a renewed focus on pure tones and discovering harmonies between voices. The idea for KIMA: Voice followed from the artwork KIMA: Wheel, created for the London Roundhouse’s 50th anniversary, and KIMA: Union Chapel in 2014, which both focused on the human voice as a mode of self-expression, co-creation and participatory art. 

_{performed by Kate Smith at Great Exhibition Road Festival 2019, image by Maciej Lachowicz 2019}

KIMA: Voice was nominated for the Lumen Award 2020