How voice occupies space and reveals dark aspects that (its mediation) can be anything else than harmful for the establishment of a democratic society.
# Introduction
The last years my ongoing concern lies on the presence of the female voice in public. During my previous studies I gradually realized how my gendered body had been silenced or marginalized through slight gestures from male figures or institutional powers that were obfuscating this situation. Observing, as well, female members of my family, female teachers, workers and immigrant neighbors of my early age environment I found out different types of marginalization and silencing. Examples would be women working at home or the background of a company, taking care of everything in the family and leaving behind their own desires, men interrupting them when articulating arguments in a political/formal dialogue, underestimating their knowledge. The mediation of their voices and the way they were becoming present, active participants and visible in public spaces and spheres became one of my main interests. My past projects reflected and responded to that concern. I worked with voice and sound that as forms of art are underestimated in the context of the western visual culture. They are forms connected to irrational attitudes and primary oral cultures. Feminists include and embrace voice in their practices because there is a uniqueness in it that embodies the speakers and their personal stories. The sound of voices reveals hidden suppressed aspects and subjects of the society. Because of its temporariness, non-linearity, invisibility and borderless character *long sounds text* sound can exist and transit in multiple dimensions of spaces at the same time, creating bonds between them. Oral cultures of all times, that are based on vocal expression, differ from the literate cultures in that they embrace the collective sharing of knowledge. More specifically they create "personality structures that in certain ways are more communal and externalized, and less introspective than those common among literates. Oral communication unites people in groups. Writing and reading are solitary activities that throw the psyche back on itself" (Ong, 2002, pg. 67). <br>
In one of my related projects, *Sound Acts in Victoria Square* I 'inserted' the recorded sounds of women’s voices into existing conversations at a public square in Athens that was male dominated. First, I realized and recorded actions of conversations, within two months, with women I met in the square, as well as archived and ordered the collected material. Then I planned and realized the in-situ broadcasting of the collected sound material and the direction of the new relations and conversations with the public for one day in June 2015. Their voices came from a past time of the same place, when they were physically present. At another time only their words were present and 'participated' in conversations in the square. From my description of the project: "The broadcasted female voices were abruptly intervening into the existing conversations in the specific places, giving the impression of an non-invited 'absent' guest" (Diakrousi, 2015, pg. ). The women were represented by mediated distant voices.<br>
The last years my ongoing concern lies on the presence of the female voice in public. During my previous studies I gradually realized how my gendered body had been silenced or marginalized through slight gestures from male figures or institutional powers that were obfuscating this situation. Observing, as well, female members of my family, female teachers, workers and immigrant neighbors of my early age environment I found out different types of marginalization and silencing. Examples would be women working at home or the background of a family, taking care of everything in and leaving behind their own desires, men interrupting them when articulating arguments in a political/formal dialogue, underestimating their knowledge. The mediation of their voices and the way they were becoming present, active participants and visible in public spaces and spheres became one of my main interests. My past projects reflected and responded to that concern. I worked with voice and sound. As forms of art are underestimated in the context of the western visual culture. They are forms connected to irrational attitudes and primary oral cultures. The sound of voices reveals hidden suppressed aspects and subjects of the society. Because of its temporariness, non-linearity, invisibility and borderless character *long sounds text* sound can exist and transit in multiple dimensions of spaces at the same time, creating bonds between them. Oral cultures of all times, that are based on vocal expression, differ from the literate cultures in that they embrace the collective sharing of knowledge. More specifically they create "personality structures that in certain ways are more communal and externalized, and less introspective than those common among literates" (Ong, 2002, pg. 67). Feminists have been including and embracing voice in their practices because there is a uniqueness in it that embodies the speakers and their personal stories while connecting the people/everyone. <br>
In one of my projects, *Sound Acts in Victoria Square* I 'inserted' the recorded sounds of women’s voices into existing conversations at a public square in Athens that was male dominated. Most of the frequenters were immigrants and refugees from different periods of migration to Greece. They were coming from Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, Albania, Georgia, Russia and others but also Greece. The gender bias and the way they used the public space differed according to their country of origin. However it was common that many of the young women visiting the square were just passengers with shopping bags or kids around them. The men, on the other hand, were hanging out with their friends, occupying many spots of the square for hours. My intervention was like that; first, I realized and recorded actions of conversations, within two months, with women I met in the square, as well as archived and ordered the collected material. Then I planned and realized the in-situ broadcasting of the collected sound material and directed the new relations and conversations with the public for one day in June 2015. The intervention lasted for some hours and different people, mostly men, were participating in conversations that would include the women's voices or not. Their voices came from a past time of the same place, when they were physically present. At another time only their words were there and 'participated' in the conversations. From my description of the project: "The broadcasted female voices were abruptly intervening into the existing conversations in the specific places, giving the impression of an non-invited 'absent' guest" (Diakrousi, 2015, pg. ). They were distant mediated voices. <br>
But together with this concern I was also dealing with the separation of amateur and expert when I was approaching telecommunication networks and technologies with the intention of learning to build them and use them. This separation goes together with the gender exclusion. I quickly found out that this is not only my problem. In the example of an activist collective called Prometheus volunteers expressed similar concerns in the barnraising of a radio station:
>"The radio activists presented the work of soldering a transmitter, tuning an antenna, and producing a news program or governing a radio station to be accessible to all. Nevertheless, they were conscious of patterned gaps in their organization and volunteer base: men were more likely than women to know how to build electronics, to be excited by tinkering, and to have the know-how to teach neophytes.This troubled the activists"(Dunbar-Hester, pg. 53-54).
@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ The dominant notion that men are the main operators of public sphere together wi
## The Roots of the Collective Voice
The voice is a medium for collective practice [orality]. Deliberating communicative processes through the voice/ activating communal activities. “This new orality has striking resemblances to the old in its participatory mystique, its fostering of a communal sense, its concentration on the present moment, and even its use of formulas (...) But it is essentially a more deliberate and self-conscious orality” (Ong. pg.13). The rational individualy empowered democracy stands against the female collective [the male and the others collective that female is part of- metaphorical relation]
"Oral communication unites people in groups. Writing and reading are solitary activities that throw the psyche back on itself" (Ong, 2002, pg. 67)
Decision making through the dialogue (check my reader on orality)
The mediation of the voice as detachment of the speaker. “the mediating role of all kinds of media that detach voice from its physical proprietor and enable its circulation in places and contexts in which physical bodies may not have access. (Panopoulos)
Being here now and elsewhere. A way to approach the other that will listen to us. "Heidegger, in Being and Time and elsewhere,", "To the extent that it always relates us to the absent other, the telephone"(Telephone Book, Ronell)
