P[a]ra[pra]xis: Poetry in Motion

P[a]ra[pra]xis is an open two-part software suite and Java library (JAR) that facilitates the realtime creation and simultaneous sonification of poetry/prose. It is particularly designed to implement word substitutions based on the psychoanalytical principles of free association and metonymic slippage. The first part, P[a]ra[pra]xis Collection Editor, allows a user to create and maintain a dictionary of words and their grammatical properties (i.e. verb, singular noun, pronoun etc.) and the corresponding properties of user-defined substitutions for those words. The second part, Realtime P[a]ra[pra]xis, executes these substitutions as the user/performer types, and broadcasts OSC messages containing the properties of the original and substituted words, along with discrete notifications of keyboard events. A case study (based on a live networked performance) is presented which highlights one particular usage of this program in the form of an Instant Messenger (IM) style chat with interpolated ‘Freudian slips’ to create a dialogue which changes between the point of transmission and the point of reception, and spontaneously generates music reflecting physical and emotional changes in the dialogue.