Ting-Jung
Chen

The Taiwanese artist Ting-Jung Chen focuses on the issue of boundaries, bringing attention to the general phenomena of tensions existing between different groups or communities. Auditory histories, and how sound and music participate in shaping societal tensions, for Chen figure as fertile ground for creative exploration. Moreover, history is positioned as a reference within a greater gesture of storytelling the artist presents. These are stories sensitive to the time and space of the present, that acknowledge the movements of history in the making of collective memories which extend across generations, and that figure as currents within what comes to pass as national identification.

This finds expression in a range of works addressing militarism and war, including research into the idealization of certain voices as symbols of nationalism. In (RPM) Revolutions Per Minute (2020), for example, the artist sampled 13 victory speeches from leaders from various sovereign states during WWII. Of particular interest are the ways in which authorized voices and sounds in history and society across different countries seek to manifest “absolute harmony” by way of sonority. Reworking these archival materials, Chen instead creates an abstracted form of melody, which exposes listeners to a more complex view onto social unity.

Extending from a focus on recorded speeches, and the ideological tonalities they seek to harness, the artist expresses a pointed interest in sonic warfare operative across nation-states. For example, her installation work You Are the Only One I Care About (whisper) (2018) addresses the use of large-scale broadcast walls built on the coast of Taiwan and which directed selected slogans and songs at mainland China.
Appearing as a wall-like structure consisting of 17 papier mâché loudspeakers, the work amplifies a composition by the artist based on the song I Only Care About You by Teresa Teng, whose songs were played through the broadcast wall as part of the Taiwanese propaganda campaign. The new composition is sung a cappella by two opera singers whose overlaid voices create an uncanny rendering.

Furthermore, in her installation If She Is Not Sitting In The Room (2021), the artist elaborates her concern with sonic warfare, in this case by appropriating 32 songs performed by female singers considered patriotic or banned in Taiwan between 1932-1971. The final 8-channel sound piece is amplified through 14 loudspeakers embedded within movable wooden paneling etched (through burning) with a morse code translation of the related lyrics. Visitors are invited to interact with these movable panels, thereby shifting the sounds and resonance of the room.

These are complex installations integrating multi-channel speaker systems, and the re- appropriation of musical materials, questioning in what ways sound can be utilized to define borders and boundaries. This finds elaboration, as well as a somewhat more personal rendering, in her work Dislocated Voice (2022), an interactive sound installation based on the sonic memories of Kinmen residents who were subjected to the sonic warfare campaign between the Taiwan government and China (1953-1992). Integrating recordings of wind soundscapes from Kinmen, along with a whistled adaption of the pop song Good Night song, which was broadcast as a lullaby regularly every day from Kinmen to China, the artist created an installation comprised of 14 loudspeakers and 1 directional speaker, as well as three hanging microphones that rotate through the space in response to the movements of visitors. They also record the sounds of the space as they move, which are then integrated into the ongoing playback of the recordings, thereby creating a dizzying composite of live and recorded audio, as well as a complex interaction between the past and present.

With a background in philosophy, and a deep involvement in sculpture, sound, and spatial environments, Chen’s oeuvre is marked by a fundamental concern for the construction of difference. And importantly, how sound can allow for an exploration and diffusion of boundaries. Chen’s works are less about political statements, rather, the artist offers a nuanced form of storytelling, weaving cultural symbols and memories, the sounding and resounding of songs and voices, and the melodies that carry meanings across time, into recompositions for a more considered form of listening.

Text: Brandon LaBelle