PRETTY
TALK

PRETTY TALK is a 15-minute, looping 3D-animation. The soundtrack of the video was collaged together from found recordings of tropical birds that live in captivity and mimic their domestic surroundings. Sourcing from YouTube and other video hosting platforms, hundreds of soundbites from videos of pet birds were downloaded and sorted into a sound-effects library. This unique SFX library eventually accumulated into a rich storehouse of excerpts of speech, laughter, crying and singing, as well as electronic devices, police sirens, power-tools-- all produced by mimicking birds. A narrative was then collaged based on the limited and strange contents of archive. While the animation’s characters take human form, their voices are all “acted” by parrots, who also “act” all sound effects used in this experimental animation whose entire soundtrack is bird mimicry. Themes related to the uncanny, simulation and play, reverberate throughout film’s visuals and plot, which takes a surprising twist as the façade of a suburban town degenerates into a sci-fi horror. The animation is exhibited with an accompanying “desktop documentary” -style video, called “PRETTY TALK : IN THE MAKING” which explores the politcal and environmental context of the sountrack’s source material. “PRETTY TALK” tote bags were sold in a fundraiser for a local charity that rehomes abandoned tropical birds.

PRETTY TALK, exhibtion view, FoFA Gallery in partnership with MOMENTA Biennale, Montreal, QC, 2023.

PRETTY TALK, exhibtion view, FoFA Gallery in partnership with MOMENTA Biennale, Montreal, QC, 2023.

PRETTY TALK, exhibtion view, FoFA Gallery in partnership with MOMENTA Biennale, Montreal, QC, 2023.