Urgent Futures with Jesse Damiani

What is the future of voice? Where does AI fit in? Listen on!

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My guest this week is Harry Yeff, aka Reeps100.

Harry Yeff, aka Reeps100, is a London-born neurodivergent artist and technologist specializing in voice, AI, and tech-based performance art. Yeff emerged from a working-class background, dedicating his life to art and concept. He has been visualizing the voice for 15 years and is globally celebrated as a leader in a new wave of voice technology-focused experimentation despite a very nontraditional pathway into fine art and new media. He continues to build on his skillset by utilizing an almost inhuman vocal range to drive his works. Yeff rose to fame in the early 2010s as a beatboxer. His inhuman-natured vocal ability opened up a slew of voice, technology and academic collaborations, leading him to amass a global following, rendering over 100 million views online. Notable academic partnerships include three separate Harvard residencies, the last of which was followed quickly by a collaboration with Leipzig Opera House in Germany, where Yeff produced and directed the world's first-ever AI ballet.

What I so appreciate about Harry's practice is how he’s asking us to return to perhaps our most basic technology: our voices. Oftentimes when folks invoke the voice it’s in service of language or meaning. What Harry highlights is the voice itself—its raw capabilities, how precious each individual voice is. Every time I speak to Harry, I’m left with a renewed excitement for the possibilities of voice—and I’m sure you’ll feel the same.

CREDITS: This podcast is edited and produced by Adam Labrie and me, Jesse Damiani. Adam Labrie also directed, shot, and edited the video version of the podcast, which is available on YouTube. The podcast is presented by Reality Studies. If you appreciate the work I’m doing, please subscribe and share it with someone you think would enjoy it.

Find video episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures.