Tape Music- Social Measurement Through Sound:

A long reel guided the participants into a spiral formation. Without knowing the rules of the game, the participants improvisationally sang or read aloud the meaningless alphabets and syllables on the reel as they passed it along clockwise. A cloud of sound emerged with the layering utterances from each participant. This sound cloud went from quiet to loud, its form developing slowly, organically, and uninterruptedly.



In Tape Music, each participant was a performer. In this experimental game, any of-the-moment reaction from a participant was part of the performance. The sound spectrum created by this interaction became the sculptural presentation of sound. In other words, the experimentation itself became a community survey via sound.



Inspiration for Tape Music came from Dadaists’ and Futurists’ Sound Poetry performances in the early 20th century. It also came from Jean-Jacques Lebel’s Polyphonix, borrowing mechanical models of tape machine/paper tape reader and sound composition methods derived from the Granular Synthesis theory. The auditory expression for Tape Music revolved around the harmony created by the four tones in Mandarin Chinese (the natural harmony formed when four people read aloud the words ē, é, ě, è), its Pinyin in Roman letters transliterated from Mandarin pronunciation.



Throughout this project, sound formed through a mixture of extreme self-expression, as well as unity. By examining the different sound clouds formed by this one reel in different group experiments, one can make out the various modes of interactions in a variety of spaces and communities.



My residency with Cité Internationale des Arts was the longest period I’d ever stayed in the city of Paris. I brought my family to live with me. Not only was I able to explore the city and participate in the arts, but the experience also allowed my wife and children to become familiar with European cultures, as well as to understand my profession and the way I live. It was a holistic experience and had a positive long-term influence. My experience reduced the misunderstandings stemming from cultural differences between Taiwan and France, and it became almost like a turning point in my artistic career. In addition, the Director and staff of the Centre culturel de Taiwan à Paris (France and Taiwan Cultural Center) offered excellent assistance. We had great exchanges, especially around the topic of Antonin Artaud. Taipei Mission in Sweden also offered assistance during my stay in Europe. I held a very successful exhibition in Sweden under the coordination of curator Lu Dai-Ru.