Digital Audio Collective Presents: RM Francis

The Digital Audio Collective presents an experimental computer music performance by RM Francis on Friday March 21 at 7pm at the WSU Planetarium. This 4-channel (surround sound) audio work consists of sound and language generated by AI and machine learning/listening technologies. Listeners are invited to an immersive audio experience in which an uncanny virtual choir merges both realistic speech and abstract sound. RM Francis will deliver an artist talk prior to the performance in the WSU Libraries Terrell Atrium at 3pm, featuring a demonstration of his machine listening process. Presented by the Digital Audio Collective with support from the David G. Pollart Center for Arts and Humanities, the WSU Libraries, and the WSU Department of Physics and Astronomy. Both events are free, all-ages and open to the public, but please note that seating for the performance is limited & admission is granted on a first come, first serve basis.

PERFORMANCE at 7pm
WSU Planetarium - Sloan Hall, Room 231 - 405 NE Spokane St, Pullman

ARTIST TALK at 3pm
WSU Libraries - Terrell Atrium - 140 Glenn Terrell Mall, Pullman

Promo:

Digital Audio Collective Presents: RM Francis Print format Digital Audio Collective Presents: RM Francis Web format

Artist Images:

RM Francis performing at a club Kahyun Uhm performing at the WSU Observatory for Music for Observations

LIVE:

March 21, 2025 - WSU Planetarium - Pullman WA - RM Francis Performance at 7pm

March 21, 2025 - WSU Libraries - Pullman WA - RM Francis Artist Talk at 3pm in the Terrell Atrium

RM Francis will also perform at Moscow Contemporary with Kahyun Uhm (advanced tickets can be purchased through Moscow Contemporary)
   March 22, 2025 - Moscow Contemporary - Moscow ID - RM Francis and Kahyun Uhm performing 4-channel (surround sound) sets

BIOS:

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.

Website: RM Francis

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.

(Kahyun Uhm will join RM Francis at Moscow Contemporary on March 22 at 7pm)