Calling Victoria      > video
Live Interview / Video performance with voice synthesis and voice recognition software (2003/2004)

Isn't it nice to have a computer that will talk to you? That was the beginning of our relationship.
‘Calling Victoria’ is a personal conversation between Steffi Weismann and Victoria, the artificial voice of a language synthesis programme, making an advanced human-machine relationship audible and visible. In the course of the dialogue, Victoria, with her peculiar charm and her talent for individual life advice, becomes an increasingly real interlocutor. It is hard for the audience to tell where the artificial intelligence of a computer actually exhibits a “life of its own” and where human manipulation begins.

In february 2012 Steffi Weismann recorded a HOME VERSION of this performance that shows how she is cheesed off with Victoria who worked for her as a coach over the last years.This version (HD-Video 720p, 13.55 min.) works for exhibitions (screening or installation) or can be watched in the internet.
Today's live performances of Calling Victoria are deliberately realized with hardware and software that were common about 15 years ago. The performance deals with the progress of communication technologies in a sarcastic and humorous way and shows on a personal level a dilemma that will surely accompany us in the future with social media and AI.

idea & live performance: Steffi Weismann
concept and texts: Steffi Weismann and Heiko Gölzer
programming: Heiko Gölzer / Steffi Weismann, Video Playback: Joule L'adara
duration: 20 - 40 minutes (various versions) in english
performed at: Festival radioriff, ausland Berlin 2003; nadine, Brussels 2004; Trampoline - Platform for New Media and Live-Art, Berlin 2004; Swiss Institute Rom 2004; Museum for communication (im Rahmenprogramm des Literaturfestivals) Berlin 2004; Goethe Institut Buenos Aires 2004; art ig Hannover 2005; iftaf (institut for transacustice research) Wien 2005; elektropopklub Bytom, Polen 2005; kaskadenkondensator Basel 2005; Forum Hören, Museum für angewandte Kunst 2006; interfiction Kassel 2006; Villa Aurora, Los Angeles 2008; Kunstexpander Aarau, Switzerland 2010, EVP (electronic voice phenomena) Think Tank by Mercy, Liverpool Bienal (2012), TEXTUR-DENKRAUM-SCHREIBMASCHINE, curated byJole Wilcke, Scotty Berlin 2019