MUSICAL WORKS

HSIEH Olifa / 謝靜瑩

Hear the Light / 看见光
[Kan Jian Guang]

Birth C: TAIWAN Gender: Female

Media Specification: AudioVisual

Setup: CUTE, NCTU and NTUA in Taiwan

Prog. notes: “When the world turns dark, can sound be our guide to the light?” This work was cooperated with fifteen choristers, the composer and singers did stage their experiment of vocal sounds in the whole building of National Taichung theater for 2.5 months.
Based on this experience, the composer recorded vocal sound then re-organized with samples to complete this spatial composition work. Through the Ambisonics technique, it full-out shows how the immersive sounds blend with the theatrical space. This room named Tutu Gallery, is one special and experimental space of the National Taichung Theater which has very beautiful
reverberation just like a typical natural valley. Therefore, we decided to output completely dry sound content from 15 channel speakers and tried to present raw sound with the original acoustic of TuTu Gallery and recorded by Ambisonic Microphone. It successfully captures the directionality and textural reasoning of the spatial acoustic characteristic, especially we need to
mention about the idea of "Sound Cave" when the famous architect Ito Toyo built this theater building. Now, you can percept this genius space by your hearing and through your earphone to feel how the live sound performed at that time, in that room.
TuTu Gallery, a free-form space resembling Natural Grotto built by world famous architect Ito Toyo. It is constructed by the organic and bionic way; its cavernous surfaces and irregular shapes endow an extraordinaire property of Acoustic Field that Ito Toyo called Sound Cave“.
This piece Hear the light 聽見光“ was installed here by 15 channels speakers; that is, various Surrounding Sounds will be displayed in through the full-sphere house. It does not only reify the spatial kinesis extensively – as if one was withdrawn into a valley in mist; but simultaneously, when the fog gets thick and the diming light starts to blur the audience’s vision, everybody’s Hearing has eventually become the sui generis organ on the track of self’s spatial orientation.
Along the sounds come from all quarters, all bodies spontaneously float up, sink down and immerse themselves.
The profuse sounds have totally evoked our somatic state, then settled us on a dream-like, kaleidoscope-like Fuzzy World. Hear the light 聽見光 invite every audience member to saunter, to perch, to explore by your auditory perception, and ultimately to reconstruct your sensory subjectivity with this space.

Editor: XM