Plug us to the power And begin the lingering of your body Listen to me Listen to him Nothing is new under the sun ——Tao Hui, Speakers in The Square, 2022 Commissioned and supported by Aranya Art Center and The Chapel of Sound, Aranya Jinshanling
Aranya Art Center and the Chapel of Sound, Aranya Jinshanling are delighted to present the solo exhibition Speakers in TheSquare by Chinese artist, Tao Hui, featuring his latest eponymous sound installation commissioned by the two institutions. This is the first presentation of a long-term contemporary art exhibition program focusing on the medium of “sound”, curated by Aranya Art Center and held at the Chapel ofSound, Aranya Jinshanling.
Seven speakers are placed in the audience seating area of a semi-open-air amphitheater in an irregular and yet orderly manner. They are bestowed with the ability to converse, whispering intermittently in the cacophony of the storm and music their sentiments of being tools. In the square, just like how human beings employ their bodies and movements to establish their stage, the speakers mobilize their physical presence and utterance to expand their frontiers. In city life, the square has always been an indispensable space for emotional display, where people communicate and interact with each other. In contemporary Chinese society, speakers often play a prominent role in activities happening in the square, from square dancing to street performances. Granting these tools a first-person voice and perspective, the work disrupts the conventional dichotomic relationships between the subject and the object, between the stage and the auditorium, to conjure up a brand-new emotional experience and social bond.
The architectural design of the Chapel draws on the myth of a celestial stone falling upon the earth, generating tension between nature and artificiality as it seeks to balance the two. Speakers in The Square brings “the square” into the valley in the form of sounds. City and valley, performance and audience, these entities constantly transform within the realm delineated by sound waves. The instrumental music in this work is composed by Li Daiguo, a pioneer in Chinese contemporary experimental music, with the vocals and dialogues performed by Wang Jiayi, Zhi Hui, Hou Yu, Jiang Ruoyu and Luo Yudan.
Speakers in The Square is open to public from October 26th, 2022 through May 14th, 2023. Reservations are required. This exhibition is organized by Damien Zhang, Director of Aranya Art Center, along with curatorial assistant Jiaming Wang. In the meantime, Tao Hui’s first retrospective solo exhibition, Searing Pain, is currently on view at Aranya Art Center, Beidaihe New Area, Qinhuangdao through February 5th, 2023.
