Interview on 938, 29 Dec 2011

 

Team Aural Interview on 938, 29Dec2011 by Tang Ling-Nah

||| Movement (Shuffle) Rehearsal Video

This video documents the rehearsal of  ||| Movement (Shuffle) held on 26 November 2011.

Photo by Sherman See-Tho

||| Movement (Shuffle)

||| Movement is now moving on to Part 2. Titled Movement (Shuffle), it re-engages the physical installation and soundscape’s zones for remembering, contemplating and transforming through dance: bodily movements and interaction set against the fragmentation of past relics, the romantic backdrop of Fort Canning Park and the youthful aspirations of the neighbouring collegiate.

Venue: Stamford Green (transitory space between NMS and escalators leading to Fort Canning)

The performance will take place on 3 Dec 2011, 7pm within the installation.
You are also welcome to attend the preview on 26 Nov 2011, 7pm.
Please RSVP the day you would like to attend.
Dress code: Casual

||| Movement is created by Team Aural (architecture collective atelier | small, visual artist Tang Ling-Nah & sound artist Zai Tang ).
||| Movement Shuffle is presented by Team Aural and activated by dancers Bernice Lee, Catherine Erica Cheok, Chan Jia Ai Christina, Faye Lim, Mafalda Almeida, Neo Yanny Zong, Daniel Sahagun Sanchez, Sherry Tay, Xinyan Wu.

Art Direction by Tang Ling-Nah
Shuffle Sound Score by Zai Tang; Movement Score by Faye Lim

Supported by ACCLAIM Lighting, National Parks Board

In the case of rain on 3 Dec, the show may be delayed till 8pm to start (pray the clouds hold). If that does not happen, the show will be postponed to 4 Dec 7pm. Please check out our blog http://lllmovement.blogspot.com/ & contact Tang Ling-Nah@9747 4298 for more information. Thanks!

||| Movement (Shuffle) 5 Nov-4 Dec 2011, with Performance on 3 Dec 2011

Team Aural is glad to announce that the exhibition of ||| Movement at the same site is extended till 4 Dec 2011. 
This second part is titled || Movement (Shuffle) and consists of a dance movement which will be presented on Saturday, 3 Dec 2011, 7pm onwards (weather-permitting).
Here is the upcoming schedule of what we will be doing on-site preceding the performance:
Run-through with the full cast: Sat, Nov 26th, 6pm
Dry run: Sat, Dec 3rd, 5.30pm 
Performance: 7pm
Attendance is free. 

Here is a video showing one of the try-out sessions at the Remembering zone of ||| Movement:

Call for Dancers

Do you enjoy slow/social/couple dancing? 

Would you like to participate in a site-specific performance at Stamford Green on Dec 3rd?

Team Aural (atelier | small, Tang Ling-Nah & Zai Tang) who created ||| Movement (pls see www.lllmovement.blogspot.com) at Stamford Green, is inviting interested individuals or couples to participate in a group slow/social/couple dance as part of a larger performance. ||| Movement is a public art installation located at the previous site of the Old National Library, where there now is a quiet clearing that is suitable for an intimate dance.

Interested individuals or couples have to be available on most of these dates:

Introductory session: Sat, Nov 19th, 6pm
Run-through with the full cast: Sat, Nov 26th, 6pm
Dry run: Sat, Dec 3rd, 5.30pm
Performance: 7pm

If you are interested in participating, please contact Faye Lim at FMINLIM[at]GMAIL.COM, or Ling Nah at ACTIVATEDCSTUDIO[at]GMAIL.COM. THANKS!!

A Synopsis of ||| Movement (Shuffle)

What impression will ||| Movement leave behind for its host site? What if ||| Movement decides to stay indefinitely? Will it outstay its welcome? While it’s still here, how does ||| Movement want to dance with its surrounding site―with its curves, its emotions, its (missed) opportunities? For lack of imagination, ||| Movement takes its host site by the hand, and then by the waist, and gives it a twirl for old times’ sake!

||| Movement (Shuffle), conceived as the second part of ||| Movement, imagines this dance through the ||| Movement installation and soundscape’s zones for remembering, contemplating and transforming―all this against the fragmentation of past relics, the romantic backdrop of Fort Canning Park and the youthful aspirations of the neighbouring collegiate. 

||| Movement (Shuffle) begins with couples of various pairings enjoying recognisable slow dance steps and an emerging pattern of twirls and spirals. The image of a ballroom is conjured from this transitory space between the Singapore that never sleeps and the Singapore that sits still.  Perhaps in a rocking embrace, the non-stop movement and the stillness can co-exist. Viewers and passers-by are invited to join in this embrace with two-left feet, two-right feet, and everything in between. 

Abruptly, spritely and sticky young individuals take interest in the space and the highs and lows of its installations. The individuals coalesce into a blob for added support and travel through the space― curving around, going under and climbing over anything/one that is in their way. When the journey is easy, they do a fast and playful dance. They can only manage a slow dance when the journey is tough. There is no end to their travels. Someone needs to tell them to stop! Though, occasionally, they find themselves in a tight, forgotten corner at the self-help section, and someone steals a kiss. 

What does the host site think or feel about all this? Does it need some time to respond? Would it help if there were a rest in the movement at this very moment; a pause for breath? Perhaps everyone―blob, dancing couples, viewers―lost their ability to move anything but their expressive diaphragms. At this point, soft cricket sounds escape from behind clenched teeth and fill the space. Somehow, the cricket sounds make contemplating that much easier.

The Contemplating Seat

The Transforming Wall

The Remembering Walls

Various Scenes (Overview)

Welcome!

This blog has been set up by atelier | small, Tang Ling Nah and Zai Tang, as an online platform documenting the development of our collaborative public art installation, titled ||| Movement. Our work will be shown from 14th October – 4th November as part of Hub-to-Hub and Archifest 2011.

The chosen site for our work is the transitory space between the National Museum of Singapore and escalators leading to Stamford Green and Fort Canning, where the old National Library once stood.

 

The work itself is a site‐specific installation exploring the cycle of construction, deconstruction and renewal within the city. It comprises three zones―remembering, contemplating and transforming―reminiscent of three movements in a single musical composition. Sound recordings from the urban environment are transformed and fused with architectural elements made from construction waste to create a distinct aural‐spatial experience. The work encourages the public to slow down, stop and contemplate on the perpetual cycle of urban transformation through the act of listening.

Thank you

We'd like to extend our gratitude to the following people, who helped make our installation possible.


Contractors / Supporters


1. Everise Awnings & Iron Works - steel works & construction works
2. J & C Services - cabling works
3. Hong Gam Industries Pte Ltd - supply of reclaimed timber strips
4. Uncle Moh Interior Design & Renovation - supply of salvaged plywood strips
5. Hoong Thye Furniture & Renovations Pte Ltd - supply of plywood boards


Sponsorship


Acclaim Lighting
ATLAS Experience: http://www.atlas-sv.com/


Documentation


Olivia Kwok (for photo-documentation of setting up): www.jooksh.com


Tang Ling Nah (for photo-documentation of final work): www.activatedcstudio.blogspot.com

Sherman See-Tho & Wong Liyun (for photo-documentation of performance of ||| Movement (Shuffle):
www.mr-seetho.blogspot.com

Benjamin Low (for video-documentation of Shuffle's rehearsal 26 Nov 2011)

Mentorship / General Awesomeness


Xinyan Wu
Yunn Ee Chee


http://www.unbox.com.sg/

Willie Koh
Selwyn Low

Work-in-Progress 8 Oct 2011: The Steel Structures were moved to Stamford Green Site

Soundscape: Background

Like our original proposal for Plaza by the Park, we all felt it was crucial to retain a site-specific response within our proposal for the new space we acquired. The seeds of our new concept began to germinate when we considered the history of the site; this transitory space was where the Old National Library Building once stood. Much lamenting and heart-felt criticism has been expressed since its demolition in March 2004, so we felt we didn't want to dwell on the past too much and repeat what others have (rightly) said previously.

image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Old_National_Library-Singapore.jpg 

Instead we began to conceive of the Old NLB's demise as a starting point to reflect upon the endless cycle of transformation within the city; this national icon's unfortunate end being a single chapter within a book about Singapore's development, as it spirals further into urbanity. As well as highlighting the theme of disappearance of local heritage, we wanted to tell other stories surrounding urbanisation too; the gradual decline of nature within the city, the loss of clarity within the urban soundscape, and the wider need to find sustainable approaches to our modern way of living.


Our team wanted to create an aural space for the audience to experience these themes, so we decided to create three zones within the final work - remembering, contemplating and transforming - which link together with notions of past, present and future respectively.

Soundscape: Remembering

Imagine

My aim was to create the impression of exploring an imaginary library with one's ears, as the listener sits between the shelf-like structures within this zone. The composition weaves its way through a series of recordings made at different libraries across Singapore, guiding the listener through the unique aural qualities and ambiances of places typically defined by their quietness or 'silence'. The listener moves through these libraries searching for different books: The books open, the pages turn and the listener's ears are momentarily plunged into imaginary sound worlds - some natural and contemplative, others mechanised and abrasive.

Use of Silence

The entire composition runs at 1 hour 27 mins, 3 cycles of 29 minutes. Each cycle of 29 minutes is identical barring one aspect; each is interspersed with silence at different points, determined by chance (more on this later). There are 5 durations of silence within each cycle (60, 30, 15, 10 and 5 seconds), totaling 2 minutes:

The use of silence is a key aspect to the form of the sound composition in all of the zones. In this zone, the total duration of silence refers to the notion of observing two minutes of silence out of respect for the Old National Library Building.

Another reason I chose to use silence is to encourage the audience to listen to the real soundscape that surrounds them and wake up to how hearing plays an extremely important role in how we perceive and interpret our environment. Before each segment of silence the listener hears a short, sharp "sshhh!" (as indicated in the visual score above), which marks the sudden shift in their aural focus from the composed to the real.
  
There is perhaps an interesting parallel between the use of silence and the fact that our team were asked to remove any reference to the Old NLB within the official write up for our work, so as not to upset certain people. Luckily, this isn't the official write up, so I feel obliged to tell you the truth. Isn't it apt that our site-specific proposal provoked a site-specific form of censorship!? The rather forceful sounding "sshhh!" assumes a different kind of relevance from this angle.

Memory Loss

When economic imperatives shape our concept of what it means for a city to grow, the delicate balance between place and memory is often put into jeopardy. The zeitgeist of expediency takes primacy over the preservation of so-called 'intangible' aspects of the cities we live in; places of social, cultural and historical importance are prone to vanishing, left to fade away in the uncertainty of memory. 

If we conceive of the built environment as being an extension of our collective conscious, then this self-induced amnesia threatens to sever our sense of identity through the removal of our shared heritage.

I do believe each generation should look towards its future and embrace change where necessary, but not through the erasure of our collective memories, which are intrinsically tied to place. In expressing the on-going cycle of transformation, ||| Movement attempts to re-connect these severed links within Singapore's urban psyche. It seeks to find a balance between past, present and future, a moment of equilibrium between nature, modernity and history.

Library Soundwalks

Here are a few raw audio recording of some of my library soundwalks:

The libraries which I have visited in Singapore exist in stark contrast to the bustling urban soundscape outside. Their well implemented sound insulation, combined with the veil of communal quietness, creates a distinctive listening experience defined by clarity. Every miniscule sound can be heard; scribbling pens, flickering books, children's happy feet.

Next time you find yourself in a library, focus on your listening and ask yourself what you can hear. If you close your eyes, do you hear things differently? Continue to listen intently when you leave the library and return outside (you might want to open your eyes before you do). How do the two sound environments compare?

Environments of such aural clarity are rare within cities. We should aspire towards creating more spaces like this.

Soundscape: Transforming

Mutant Urbanism

The piece within this zone reflects the dominant elements of Singapore's urban soundscape. It is comprised of a series of short compositions derived from various recordings of construction site machinery, transport / vehicles, and other typically urban sounds in Singapore.

  

 

The forms of the sounds in these compositions exist in a constant state of morphology - twisting and mutating towards an uncertain future. There is a variance from slight manipulation to severe alterations of the source material through digital editing techniques, sampling, and effects processing:

Even for the ‘severe' compositions, there is still some trace of the source of the sound, as to not obscure the potential meanings intended.

The overtly digital and unsubtle transformations of sounds within this zone perhaps mirror the fact that the impact of something like construction on the soundscape is very obvious. Also, the resulting timbre of such audio manipulation techniques are intrinsically tied to the digital; the framework that are lives are currently absorbed in. Through characterising the sounds in this way, they perhaps embody a sense of our increasing immersion within the digital technologies as we move towards the future.

Soundscape: Contemplating

Moments

I conceived of this zone as a platform for the sounds that often get drowned out, or even disappear, as a result of increasing urbanisation - the sounds of nature. I used a selection of recordings of different elements of Singapore's natural environments to encourage a moment of stillness within the listener: An internal space where they can contemplate their relationship to such sounds and reflect upon the lack of balance between natural sounds and man-made sounds within the urban environment.

I treated my sound material delicately once selected, as means of preserving the creatures / elements for which they represent and showing them respect. I applied minimal amounts of alteration to the recordings, simply shaping frequency content to gently shift the perspective of what is present within the recording.

Soundscape: Balance

Silent Chances

 

Singapore's soundscape, like most cities, is characterised by its high density; multiple layers of sound compete with one another to be heard by the listener as they pass through public spaces. 

 

 

In thinking about my approach to the compositions I asked myself this: In such a dense and intense sound environment would it be appropriate to introduce a continuous stream of new sounds? 

No: A better approach would be to utilise silence within the work, allowing space for the listener to experience the real soundscape that surrounds them. Between the Transforming and Contemplating zones, there is as much silence as there is composed audio:

 

In the above images, the gaps between waveforms denote a period of silence.

Many of the transitions between the short compositions and silence happen gradually, which will hopefully have the aural effect of an incremental slippage from the illusory to the real. The periods of silence were determined through simple chance operations using Max MSP:

Indeed, it is the real soundscape that I think we should wake up to. Hopefully the methods applied in this work will help stimulate the audience in to active listening to the acoustic environment.