RE:TUNING | James Nguyen and Victoria Pham
Re:tuning | ART ASSEMBLY
“Perhaps one day we can start our own pre-colonised orchestras and come together to play the instruments of our ancestors”.
James and Victoria
WORDS BY: Micheal Do, Curator, Contemporary Art, Sydney Opera House
This year, we're working with the talented James Nguyen and Victoria Pham on RE:TUNING. The Australian-Vietnamese artists have been iterating a research project that aims to decolonise instruments from the Western soundscape - and in doing so teaching people new history, stories and soundscapes that are not common/familiar.
Their main focus is the Đông Sơn drum, a bronze drum which was available from 600BCE - 300CE. They do not subscribe to preserving artefacts in a hermetically sealed environment. For them, culture is alive, and the instruments from our ancestors should be mixed in and experienced in contemporary culture - as a way to connect with our past selves, and place ourselves in the world and history.
For this project, as part of Sydney Opera House’s Antidote (11 September 2022) we invited six other musicians to talk about instruments and practices with similar/related histories (the Erhu, Dizi flute, didgeridoo, Morin Khuur, Classical Indian movement) to take part in the project over the course of a day in the Northern Foyer. Each session ran slightly differently, but essentially, they were participatory invitations/demonstrations/discussions about sonic-cultural histories. We also invited audience members to bring their own instruments to re-tune how they might play/listen to their instruments.
>> Scroll down for video of the performances across the day
It was a day about testing received knowledges and things we take for granted - which is really the core of contemporary art at the House and these commissions. From our first commission, Jason Phu’s call to action procession, to Cherine Fahd’s mediation and relief installation, and Deborah Kelly’s choir/religion of political celebration and provocation. This year, 2022, we're using sound, gathering (or what art curators call 'interventions and happenings') to reconnect and re-listen.
Presented by Sydney Opera House
RE:TUNED at Sydney Opera House's creative development is enabled by Janne Ryan and ARROW.
The project is also supported by the City of Sydney and UNSW.
Sydney Opera House
#sydneyoperahouse #arrowcollectve #artassembly2020 — in Sydney, Australia.
LEARN MORE
Read about Art Assembly | deborah kelly, lex lindsay + collaborators 2022
Read about Art Assembly | cherine fahd 2020/21
Read about Art Assembly | jason phu 2019/2020
GET INVOLVED
For more information on this project, and opportunities to get involved in other projects, contact ARROW Collective Founder/Curator, Janne » info@arrowcollective.org