The Beating Ancient City 跳动的古城
Sound Interactive Installation / Performance, 2021
This performance took place at the end of the residency program, where I collaborated with the local community and Nanyin enthusiasts in an audiovisual interactive performance. Below is the written and photographic documentation of the performance at that time. To watch the video, please visit the project's website （ rolling the page to the end ）：https://www.artheritageexhibition.cn/?p=69
They were starting a new day again with the musical sound of Dongxiao. Qiong, the owner of the hotel, is a lover of Nanyin. She enjoys Dongxiao and Pipa in her spare time. Nanyin is a unique classical music genre in Southern Fujian. Its distinctive performance forms are as follows: on the right are Pipa and Sanxian, respectively; On the left are the Dongxiao and the one who plays two strings. The singer holds the clapboard in the middle and sings. The melody is graceful and lyrical, with endless aftertones. As one of the birthplaces of Nanyin, Chongwu’s older generation will naturally sing a few lines, but few young people enjoy it. In Chongwu ancient city, the “Chongwu Nanyin club” comprises old people who love Nanyin. In addition to daily practice activities, it also teaches young people working in government departments. In addition to the government-supported associations, there is a folk Nanyin Association organized by Cai Yayi, the inheritor of intangible cultural heritage, in Huian County, which teaches arts by apprenticeship and has the opportunity to show it to the world in Vienna in 2017. Nanyin contains rich culture and moving stories, which few can match. Of course, only by integrating Nanyin into people’s daily life can Nanyin regain its vitality. To observe the local environment and people’s tolerance of contemporary art forms in the ancient city, we decided to conduct an interesting interactive test of sound and visuals in the ancient city to test the possibility of the ancient city as an architectural space and social space. With the combination of silent and mysterious sound and vision, we can extract the neglected and disappearing sounds from everyday life and make people participate in their production. Among the several gates and temples, the final site is located at the entrance of the east gate of the ancient city (also known as Wengcheng). On the one hand, the entrance space of the city gate is the hub connecting the inside and outside of the city, the connection between “new” and “old” voices, and on the other hand, it can echo the flow of people on the city wall. After the approval of the Chongwu government, we invited the Chongwu Nanyin group to give an interactive performance to attract local people’s attention. The room to prepare for the activity is an abandoned old house with a roof made of colored steel. Even so, the memorial tablet of the house’s owner is still in place. It is not allowed to lament that the ancestral temple culture is deeply rooted in the bone marrow of the Chongwu people. After several days of preparation, I met with more than ten old gentlemen of the Chongwu Nanyin team at 6:00 p.m. on the 10th. They didn’t speak much, but they prepared acoustics and musical instruments. They were cautious in preparing for the activity, which was very touching. The activity lasts one hour and takes place from 7 to 8 p.m. Peer partners broadcast the live activity through the network. The night of the ancient city is quiet, with only a few passers-by coming home, which still attracts the residents around to watch and listen. After the Nanyin performance, the crowd faded. The sound of footsteps and chickens and dogs reflected the moonlight, the sea breeze, and the sound device quietly interacted. This testing activity was full of harvest, giving us a more straightforward plan for further ideas and seeing the hearts ready to move under the silence.
Some on-site photo records: