RM Francis RM Francis is an artist based in Seattle working with computer-generated sound and language via recording, installation, and performance. His practice foregrounds computation-based compositional strategies, focusing on methods that exploit discrepancies between human and artificial auditory systems. His current work exploits latent phonological data extracted from non-linguistic sound in order to generate the tonal, rhythmic, and semantic content of synthesized speech. The resulting asubjective narration articulates the potentialities of speech decoupled from embodied human expression, navigating between abstract sound and uncanny characterological specificity.
His oeuvre spans multimedia work incorporating sound, video, performance, and chocolate (Hyperplastic Other, 2017), investigations of historical computer synthesis methods (A Taxonomy of Guffaws, 2020), procedural text works for a chorus of synthetic voices (Every Single Person Has Some Muscle, 2022), and hallucinatory duets between dictation apps and deep learning networks (pedimos un mensaje, 2023). His most recent work, H E L L O After-Person, will be released in March 2025 on etat.xyz. In addition to his solo projects, in recent years he has collaborated with Jack Callahan & Jeff Witscher, Jung An Tagen, and farmersmanual, among others.
Kahyun Uhm Kahyun (Kate) Uhm is a sound artist, graduate student in studio arts, and a member of the Digital Audio Collective at Washington State University. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from The Evergreen State College with an emphasis in audio recording and electronic music. In her current art practice, Uhm explores her positionality in and between the U.S. and South Korea through the fusion of often-cacophonous sounds and visual media. Her interests range from culture, society, technology, and the environment to contemporary politics and immigrant experiences.
