I recently assumed that I am not as conscious of the world and the self as I would like. It is not as easy as I thought to freely perceive and analyze reality, and subsequently create a set of principles of my own to believe in and act upon. My current work as an artist and researcher is to examine the reason for this as a shared societal preoccupation and propose a response through my doing. The issues I aim to problematize are related to the socio-temporal logic of the primacy of speed in processes such as consumption, production, optimization, or connectivity. The acceleration of these processes continuously increases the pace and amount of information and stimuli we constantly receive, exposing us to perceptual and cognitive overload.
I am currently exploring the concept of “sonic underload” as part of my artistic doctoral studies. I aim to create situations of sonic underload, that is, situations in which we may receive less than we expect in terms of sound. I seek to respond to the too much of everyday life with the very little of my music. The objective is to facilitate a space amid our hectic everyday life for listeners to reflect, contemplate, or simply linger and rest. Furthermore, I would like listeners to find in this experience something beyond a mere temporal relief, perhaps a new mode of perception that can be applied to other situations of our hurried lives to ease the encounter with continuity, depth, and meaning. Consequently, my music explores concepts such as quietness, sparseness, simplicity, inactivity, or anti-spectacle, creating situations of underload in which nothing much happens, and at the same time, there is enough space to fully delve into what is happening.
Three works
I don’t expect anything from this afternoon (2023)
for violin, bass clarinet, violoncello, and percussion
Premiered by Norrbotten NEO in Viitasaari (Finland) as part of Musiikin aika festival.
They tore down a little house covered in ivy that I liked to look at from afar (2023)
for soprano, alto flute, bass clarinet, percussion, and piano
Premiered by CrossingLines Ensemble at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía of Madrid (Spain).
Caressing you till my fingers bleed (2020)
for computer-generated sound through SuperCollider progamming language
Premiered at the Black Box of the Helsinki Music Centre as part of MuTeFest ’20.
Kuva: Giang Tran