Text ‘n FX is a DJ mixer for text. It is a prototype machine developed in the 80’s for the emerging practice of Hip-Hop. Instead of a DJ mixing two records together, the designers of the device proposed the idea of a Text-Jockey (TJ). The TJ acted as a machine-assisted poet mashing up lyrics read from two floppy disks in real-time using statistics, Natural Language Processing (NLP) and cut-up techniques from experimental literature. The product never made it to market but it exists today as a media-archaeological curiosity.

Brendan Howell was born in Manchester, CT, USA in 1976. He is an artist and a reluctant engineer who has created various software works and interactive electronic inventions. He currently lives in Berlin, Germany where he shares a studio with the Weise7 group. He has done research and led courses at the Muthesius Kunsthochschule, Merz Akademie, Fachhochschule Potsdam and the Kunsthochschule Berlin, Weißensee.

Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2013, 20h30-22h
Place: Le Cube, 20 cours Saint-Vincent, Issy-les-Moulineaux