Bla Blavatar vs Jaap Blonk explores how dataset creation can be a deeply musical and social act—a way for people to connect through voice. Focusing on the relationship between sound poet Jaap Blonk and artist Jonathan Reus, this project emphasizes trust, mentorship, and shared artistic values that differ from existing commercial AI. In this performance, Blonk faces off against his AI voice clone, the “Bla Blavatar,” performed by Reus using Tungnaá, a self-made AI voice instrument that redefines what counts as “voice.” Blonk performs “Dataset Poems” in RPA (Reduced Phonetic Alphabet), a notation system co-developed by the artists. As he performs, his voice is recorded and added to a growing dataset for public release. The work challenges trends of generative AI systems to lock in assumptions about what an ideal voice should be, inviting audiences to consider the hidden labor and, for Blonk, a lifetime of craft, behind AI voice, while humorously underscoring humanity’s paradoxical endeavor to automate its own expressive capacities.
Prix Ars Electronica 2025
Award of Distinction – Digital Musics & Sound Art