Kwun Tong Ferry Pier
Unlike the usual exhibitions happening in gallery,
the Around Sound Art Festival and Retreat exhibition is actually held in Kwun
Tong Ferry Pier, a semi-open space in the waterfront. When I set my foot into
the gallery, I was immediately amazed by the space. The place is actually an
empty and spacious Ferry Pier. The natural sunlight, breeze and the sound of
surf forms a comfortable and relaxing environment to enjoy the visit. I felt
calm and relaxed inside the pier.
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| Sound Installations |
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| Sound device |
Literally, Around Sound Art Festival and Retreat is
of course an exhibition about sound. Indeed, there were many displays of innovative
devices and installations making interesting sound. But what I want to focus
and share is my whole new experience to two live sound performances.
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| Glass Bottles |
When I stepped up on the second floor, my attention
was drawn to the green glass bottles lining up in straight line on the ground. I
didn’t what is going to happen and how it creates sound? Then, visitors and I
were told to gather around to next side of the space. There was nothing
strangely except a straight rope lying on the ground. An old man stood by the
rope. At the beginning, I had no idea of who he is. He started to take some
prop stands from the side and to place them along the rope one by one.
Following that, he used wooden beams to connect the prop stands together. After
finishing that, he hammered nail on the beams at intervals creating some
annoying banging noise. I actually wondered what they are and how the
performance is going on. The whole performance kept me curious on the next
move.
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| Placing prop stands |
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| Placing wooden beam |
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| The old man hammering nails |
Meantime, a lady from nowhere suddenly lied down on
the ground. Yes, she stayed her body close to the ground. ‘What? Why is she doing
that?’ I screamed in my mind. Is she trying to listen to the vibration of sound
on ground? ‘What a passionate audience?’ I wondered in my mind. I couldn’t help
but barely bear to laugh because that move was really hilarious. When the
hammering went to half, the lady seemed to be woken up by the banging sound.
She sat up and slowly stood up. Then she started to post different gestures and
to dance slowing using arms.
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| The lady lying on the ground |
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| The lady woke up |
When all were set up, the old man used a chopstick
to tap on the nails from one end to another, making beautiful and melodious notes.
Hearing the sound, the lady simultaneously danced more vigorously. She interacted
with the frequency, amplitude and speed of sound. The faster the tapping, the
faster the sound, and the faster she danced.
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| Dancing lady |
It appeared to be that the old man was interacting with
the lady. But to me, it seemed that actually they were trying to convey a
message, to tell a story and to perform a drama through the sound and the dance.
The story is like a metamorphosis of a butterfly, from sleeping to struggling
to fly and finally floating around the flowers. The final melody by tapping the
nail and the energetic dance looked like the celebration of beautiful living of
butterflies.
Another performance is also given by them. But the
tools of producing sound were different by using the bottle I saw before. This
time the lady kicked off the act by picking up a bottle. Surprisingly, there was
water inside those bottles. The lady danced fluently while holding the bottle
making the water inside to splash out on the ground. The water hit on the
ground produced an amazingly pleasing sound. Then, the lady picked more bottles
and did the same thing. Unexpectedly, the old man came in and picked the
bottles one a hand. He knocked the bottles against each other producing strong
beats. They repeated until all the water was poured.
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| Picking up Bottle |
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| Dancing while pouring water |
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| Water poured over the ground |
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| The old man banging two bottles |
Again, it seemed to me that the interaction of them
was another story telling. A fairy was pouring rains to the world by happily
dancing through the sky while a pixie was casting thunders. Or it is simply two
drunk people madly danced.
The two performances were performed by Akio Suzuki,
a Japanese sound artist and the lady I didn’t get her name. I think the
performance they haven’t practiced before, but they just did it out of the
consensus on sound and each other. Besides, I didn’t know until I watched and
listened to these performances that sound can produce a space and tell a story.
I am now quite interested to search more artworks of
sound and discover more about Akio!
Akio Suzuki’s official website
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