Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief - Exhibition Catalogue Preview

Samson Young Hong Kong in Venice

Songs for Disaster Relief A Mixtape

Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief Hong Kong in Venice A Mixtape

嘥 ㎗ 鰜 涸颌 担 㼠 鱀 껻度㖈㪮㽳倛 倞刼⸈礶鼇

Ying Kwok and Sonia So 鿓榫豤㮵㮵 with Doryun Chong 莅 ꁀ麥ꑙ M+, West Kowloon Cultural District 銯⛰俒⻋⼦M+鋕錏俒⻋⽈暟긭

Side A Text 俒㶶 1 2

Preface 䎸鎊

Wilfred Wong and Victor Lo 桬薊⨀繏⟗囙

Introduction: Failed Aspiration

䒸鎊ЭЭ衆 瑠 涸 䫵 頾 Doryun Chong ꁀ麥ꑙ

3

嘥㎗鰜涸鶬 偒 刼

랔蒀涸 C 㣐 锅 ЭЭ锸 嘥 ㎗ 鰜 涸 䠮 濼 ⴗ ⶷

p.35

Knowing the Unknown: Samson Young’s Artistic Practice

濼䨾劢濼ЭЭ嘥㎗鰜涸谁遯㻜驏

6

p.19

Yellow in C Major – Samson Young’s Perceptual Cutting

Leung Po-shan Anthony 哀㼂㿋

5

p.15

The Sound Canon of Samson Young

Seth Kim-Cohen

4

p.11

Ying Kwok 鿓榫

p.43

Ying Kwok and Sonia So 鿓榫豤㮵㮵

p.47

A Conversation with Samson Young 莅 嘥 ㎗ 鰜 㼩 鑨

Images 㕮⫹

p.57

Side B Softer Landings: An Introduction

p.91

Softer Landings I. (Cultural) Politics 7

Lest I forget who I am to ____.

Samson Young

8

Decay, Resonance, Auditory Space: Sonic Materiality and Culture Samson Young

9

p.101

The Possibility of Authenticity: Sounding the Socialist China in the Buddha Machine Samson Young

10

p.95

p.111

Samson Young: Hong Kong’s Contemporary Music Scene / Unseen Kung Chi Shing with Samson Young

p.125

Softer Landings II. Snapshots 11

Phonography: Samson Young’s Sonic Art Christoph Cox

12

Transcript of a presentation at the Asia Art Archive in America Jane DeBevoise with Samson Young

13

p.135

p.147

Samson Young’s Divided Attention Yeung Yang

p.161

Softer Landings III. Soundmarks 14

On Drawing Sound Samson Young

15

Front and Voice, Two Sides of History - Samson Young’s Field Exploration of the Sound of World War II Leung Po-shan Anthony

16

p.179

These Bells Have Changed Me In Fundamental Ways András Szántó with Samson Young

18

p.175

Sketching the Sound of Landscape András Szántó with Samson Young

17

p.169

p.189

On Bells and Cigarettes (When I have fears that I may cease to be, what would you give in exchange for your soul) Samson Young

p.197

Side A

2

Introduction: Failed Aspiration 引言──落空的抱負

Doryun Chong ꁀ麥 ꑙ

搂➃㋐姹㣟侁搭罜䧮⦛䖃䖃䖤䱺「㣟侁

No one likes to fail, but we constantly live with failures. We can

鎊⛳僽罉欰䌢锓⡎䧮⦛鼩僽㻞〳䖤⹨䧴

reminds us—but we still prefer to win or succeed. This principle

䧴刺➃腋䖰䮲侁⚥剤䨾䖤满♶⫦僽荛椚僈

learn from our failures—as one of those truisms, if not wisdoms,

罏䧭⸆鸏珏雊欰欴⸂琽㧇搂铐植➿⻋♶

of failsafe productivity and ever progressive modernity drives

涸嫦♧⟝✲欩荛鸮䧮⦛涸ず椚䗱䣗䢹ㄤ

humanity are ruled by this principle. This is perhaps one of the

⦛嫦➃鿪䠮ⵌ嬗搂⥌䗱ㄤ蘉搭蕰㣟涸⾲㔔

are experiencing one of those epic failures that periodically

姻竤娜齡珏ヰ罜䗂㨥涸㡭捙䮲侁鵜䎃ぐ珏

order. The speed and sequence of the chain reaction of events

倬⵹鹎涸⾲⵱♧湬뀝⹛满䧮⦛荈魨ㄤ䨾⨞

us and everything we do. Even our empathy, generosity, and

➃䚍鿪「鸏⾲⵱䨾佅ꂂ鸏䧴鏪僽植㖈䧮

reasons why we feel unsure and unmoored at present, for we

⛓♧Ⲉ䨞䖕⚆歲獘䎸涸䧴搭䄶鍑⢪䧮⦛

occur—that is, a possible collapse of the Post-Cold War world

✲⟝欴欰涸鸮ꓳ⿾䥰齡鸠䏞ㄤ鹎㾝鞟姺

in recent years has been nothing less than disconcerting. If

〭➃䟡䛌♶㸞殹⚥蕰剤〳㜖⟂➃䣆诔涸 㽠僽谁遯㹻齡暶ⴽ併ꌴ崞鬪涸濼陏ㄤⶾ䠑

䠮䥰ЭЭ谁遯㹻⫙ぢ䖰㣟侁⚥ⶾ鸤ⴀ刿㢵 嘥㎗鰜僈鎊չ颌担㼠鱀պ涸侮넓椚䙂僽չ衆瑠

there is any comfort to derive, it is from the fact that artists’ intellectual and creative radars go into overdrive in such times.

Artists tend to make more out of failures.

Samson Young professes that the overarching idea of the present project ‘Songs for Disaster Relief’ is ‘failed aspiration’. In

涸䫵頾պ 荛倴꫙䠮➮暶ⴽ䲿ⵌⲈ䨞儘➿劣

terms of inspiration, he specifically harks back to that moment

䩛ざ㈖ⰶ劆㋎饱㣐滞㼩ꬌ崎꺘虢涸ꡠ岤⚛

music superstars were formed in order to raise awareness and

➋䠑㖈殹儘⛳鏪㽍捀䗳銴㔔捀殹儘➃字

broadcasting of goodwill may have been especially in need at

㪮晋㖈շ♧⛰Ⱄ㔋ո涸珏珏갸鎊⹴㼟䧭溫涸

the general mood was darkly overcast by what seemed like the

劍涸♧⦐儘ⵠ崩遤갉坿歲馄秹僤縂剤伟

in the late Cold War era when rare congregations of popular

⹛㆞䴂⸔担字鸏珏歋そ➃걆菕⫄久涸㊥䗱

mobilise aid for African famines. This celebrity power-driven

㼩呍䨞嵞⸙涸䛌䧌溫ⴗ爢剚䑞岌硱縟倴㤹

the time, because the fear of nuclear holocaust was real, and

ꤥꫂ⚥♶麕齡珏倞늫䠮搂锸㢵剤娜〷䠑

coming true of the predictions in George Orwell’s Nineteen

纏鿪剚鴾鸠嶋鷎♧㥶䨾剤崩遤俒⻋涸邍麨 倰䒭ㄤ欴暟籏㖈䧮⦛㼩䇩倞✲暟涸搂姺㞯 鷆宠⚥鷎蒀

倴嘥㎗鰜罜鎊 չ衆瑠涸䫵頾պ♧铃⚥չ衆瑠պ

Eighty-Four. But the novelty, however historic, quickly faded, as all popular cultural expressions and products tend to in our relentless pursuit for the ever new.

In my understanding, both parts of the phrase ‘failed aspiration’ are important for Young. An aspiration may have failed because

ㄤչ䫵頾պⰍ鿈⟨ず垺ꅾ銴♧⦐䫵頾衆瑠

it was based on an innocence that was in fact an arrogance on

珏䫵頾涸➃魨♶歋䊹㖒贖倴齡⦐歋✳⯋ⷔ

his or her time, when the world was far more clearly delineated

ㄤ顇պ  չ㊥莅䟅պ 鑨ꧪ㥶姽鸏珏衆瑠⚛♶

good and evil. Nonetheless, such failure does not negate the

黇嫲僓傈鰋僒䧮⦛갫椚䧭畎䧴僽剤䗳銴㖒

ease in travel and communication, it has become almost

䧴鏪僽歋倴㸐䒊㛇倴♧珏⫃䢩涸㣔溫剤鸏

the part of the aspirant, who could not but be the creature of

ⴕ涸⚆➿刿幢兠㖒⼦ⴽչ䧮⦛ㄤ➮⦛պ  չ㺢

via binaries between us and them, haves and have-nots, and

や㹁齡䒊㛇倴㊥䠑涸䫵頾㥶➛假遤ㄤ鸒鎝

goodwill that undergirded the aspiration. Now, with far more

Introduction: Failed Aspiration

natural for us to be cynical. It may even be necessary to be

16

so, because the present quantities and intensities of fake news have never been experienced before. Perhaps this is why Young is here asking us to return to and re-examine that moment of innocence, certain aspirations enabled by it, and the subsequent failures thereof. He knows that it is important for us to do so but may not yet exactly understand why.

He is thus not drawing a didactic conclusion in ‘Songs for Disaster Relief’. While conjuring up the time from more than three decades ago, and maybe inadvertently evoking nostalgia, he is also expanding the web of ideas and images surrounding it further back in time and also closer to the present. He is connecting spaces and times—for instance, South Africa with North Dakota, and London in 1984 and Los Angeles in 1985, with 1991 in Hong Kong as well as 1957 in Moscow—in the course of which he is traversing actual oceans and rivers, and the ideological divides from the time when such things were clearly defined as borders and fences. One of the effects that becomes apparent in the process is underlining the reality we have woken up to: migration, the ever more dangerous but unavoidable business, is something artists must not only partake in but also make sense of.

隶䖤䤨⚆㱸⤺㔔捀殹⵹麂ⵌ涸贡⧺倞耂⛓ 侸ꆀㄤ㺙䏞僽⵹䨾劢剤涸⛳鏪姻㔔㥶姽 谁遯㹻㖈姽锞䧮⦛㔐ⵌ⚛ꅾ倞㻤鋕齡⦐㣔

溫涸儘ⵠ齡⦐儘ⵠ鸤㽠涸♧❉䫵頾莅⿻

鸏❉䫵頾䖕⢵涸㣟衆嘥㎗鰜濼麥䧮⦛剤꨾ 銴鸏垺⨞劢腋焷ⴗ僈涯⾲㔔

㥶姽➮⚛♶僽捀չ颌担㼠鱀պ用♴♧⦐㷸瑖 䒭涸穡锸㖈ꅾ植♲⼧㢵䎃⵹涸儘ⵠ⚛ꨈ

⯝䟧饱䧃莍⛓䞕涸ず儘➮❠㖈仍㾝♧䓹歋 䠑䙂莅㕮⫹籽䧭橇粕鸏♧儘ⵠ涸笪⟤鸏

笪䒂⠽ⵌ刿⛉黇涸麕⿡ЭЭ❠刿顦鵜植㖈 ➮鸮䱺♶ず瑠꟦ㄤ♶ず儘꟦⢿㥶⽂ꬌㄤ⻍ 麨猰➮䊝⧍侚涸♧⛰Ⱄ㔋䎃ㄤ峫勒熘涸

♧⛰Ⱄ❀䎃⟃⿻♧⛰⛰♧䎃涸껻度ㄤ♧⛰ ❀♬䎃涸蜓倛猰劍꟦堾馊溫㻜涸嵳峕ㄤ屎 崩⚛瑭馊殹儘♧䏞鄄鋕捀毐歲ㄤ型碌涸䠑 陏䕎䢀⼦ꥬ麕玑⚥Ꟛ㨥곏鋅涸♧⦐佪卓 殹䧮⦛刿幢嘽荈䊹魨贖涸植㻜 չ鼄獵պ隶

䖤곏罜僒鋅鸏䖰劢㥶姽⽭ꦖ⽿搂〳鼚⯝涸 ✲僽谁遯㹻䗳갭⿮莅⿻䱳鎣⿻Ⱖ䠑纏涸

If ‘failed aspiration’ is the overarching idea, then the formal through-line that unifies the works in this exhibition is human voice—in its versatility and mastery, and in its tenderness and loneliness. Young says that musical composition is at the core of his diverse artistic practice, and it is how he ‘structures’ and ‘makes sense of the world’. At the same time, he confesses (as he does in his introduction to the Side B of this book) that it is only some months after a project has concluded that he can name his ‘desires’—the moment he calls the ‘soft landing’.

This exhibition as it comes into being, then, is perhaps a ‘hard landing’, only fitting because the territory he wants us to journey to is not a land of mere rosy nostalgia, but a cartography of our present-day stirrings and strivings.

17

⧺㥶չ衆瑠涸䫵頾պ僽鸏⦐갪湡涸侮넓椚䙂 齡랃顐瑭㾝錒涸䕎䒭⚺鯥㽠僽齡꫙崞礶廴 稣芵㺑㻚涸➃耫嘥㎗鰜剎铞⡲刼僽➮㢵⯋ 谁遯㻜驏涸呍䗱❠僽➮䒊圓⚆歲ㄤ椚鍑⚆ 歲䠑纏⛓鸁㽠㥶➮㖈劥剅#꬗涸䒸鎊䨾㗞 鎊䖃䖃銴䖊ⵌⶾ⡲갪湡穡勲侸⦐剢䖕䩞

铞䖤ⴀ➮涸չ庯宠պЭЭ➮珖⛓捀չ鮿满ꤷպ 涸儘ⵠ罜鸏⦐㾝錒涸䧭䕎䧴鏪䜄䜄僽⦐չ 炽满ꤷպЭЭ鸏ⶍ㥪僽⦐顦ⴗ涸䕎㺂㔔捀 ➮䟝䧮⦛麉娜涸⚛ꬌ♧⦐秫搭繡㥪涸䧃

莍⛓㖒罜僽♧⦐粭ꏗ䧮⦛植➛⹛諴莅㥅놽 涸㞯㚖

Doryun Chong

5

Knowing the Unknown: Samson Young’s Artistic Practice 知所未知── 楊嘉輝的藝術實踐

Ying Kwok 鿓榫

嘥㎗鰜ꧪ搭䱺「〢Ⱙ갉坿莅⡲刼鎯箻⡎鵜

Although classically trained in music and composition, in

鋅倴椕⚺銴谁遯㜥㖒➮嫦妄鿪䧭⸆ⶾ

multidisciplinary artist with shows in major art institutions

䎃➮涮㾝䧭捀♧⡙騗歲ⴽ涸谁遯㹻㾝怵〳

recent years Samson Young has established himself into a

ⴀ⟂➃莇㥅涸倞⡲歋շ Nocturneո 

around the world. While each time Samson had been able to

of Language Affords Remarkable Powerո

performance in Nocturne (2015); to mixed media installation

Are Old By the Time You Reach the Islandո

multimedia walk with site specific video and live performance

ⴀ⯋稇涸㢵㯯넓㼬遤鸏❉⡲ㅷ雊䧮⦛♧瓹

(2016). These works allowed us a glimpse into Samson’s diverse

䎃⚥涸植㜥ꨶ〵耫갉邍怵ⵌշ Mastery

create exciting new works that ranged from live radio sound

 2016䎃⚥涸幋ざ㯯➝酤縨⟃荛շ So You

in Mastery of Language Affords Remarkable Power (2016); to

 䎃⚥⺫䭍㜥㚖暶㹁ꏗ⫹⿻植㜥怵

elements in So You Are Old By the Time You Reach the Island

➮涸㢵⯋莇馱ЭЭ歋銯峕갉坿陗㻨禺窡胝

䖕涸娜〷莅佟屛ⵌ耫갉莅䨞✲⛓꟦涸わ祎 ꡠ⤚⟃⿻ꗻ⡲捀♧珏ꆂ幢纈넓莅⦐➃㕰穡 䧴ⴕꨆ⛓歲ꣳ涸俒暟Ⱖ娜〷莅醢⡲嘥㎗

鰜涸欴ⴀ⭽盘堾騗♶ず歲ⴽ⡎殹⚥➠〳鋅 ➮㼠䘋倴堥桧갉坿Ⱘ韍갉坿ㄤ㕮⫹鎹陗㷸 瘞⵹遺⡲刼䪮岁⛓⫄窡妇颣➮㖈騗俒⻋腠

range of interests, from the history and politics behind western music writing systems; to the ambiguous relationship between sound and warfare; and the history and making of bells as artefacts that define limits to unite or separate communities and individuals. Despite the interdisciplinary nature of his output, Samson retains a strong commitment to the avant-garde compositional traditions of aleatory music, musique concrète and graphical notation. It is interesting to see him translating

窄⚥鱲⻋鸏❉⡲刼䪮䊫ㄤ玑䎸䖰罜䱳程

these compositional techniques and procedures in a cross-

꺛僽剤馱

questions within a contemporary art context.

殹➿谁遯胝兞♴涸爢剚ㆹ㷸ㄤ佟屛㉏겗

cultural context to explore the social, philosophical and political

There has always been an element of experimentation in Samson work, however each piece is also underpinned by extensive research, interpreted in various forms such as drawings, sound or video recordings. One can also see the artist’s unique way of thinking too, how his ideas germinated and developed organically, like a spider web that stretches out. The more discussions we have, the more we realised it’s important to learn about the ‘not knowing’ from Samson. 嘥㎗鰜涸⡲ㅷぢ⢵鿪剤㻜뀿⯋稇搭罜嫦⦐

The notion of ‘not knowing’ or working with the unknown is an

谁遯갪湡㖳⟃鑬湈涸灇瑖捀㛇燊歋㢵珏䕎

important starting point of all research. It’s particularly essential

⚥❠〳鋅鸏⡙谁遯㹻涸栬暶䙼罌倰岁錚Ⱖ

research on new topics that he is interested, or know nothing of.

䒭㥶粭殥ꏗ갉䧴ꏗ⫹鑣ꅼ瘞灇瑖䨾䖤䖰

for Samson, as he sees this the raison d’être for pursuing his

䠑䙂㥶⡦蟠蔡⚛禺窡㖒涮㾝㥶♧䓹ぢ㢫䒂

As Samson mentioned in his statement- Softer Landing,

⠽涸蹋跬笪䧮⦛鎣锸䠂㢵䠂渤䖰➮魨♳ 钢陏չ劢濼պ涸ꅾ銴䚍

Knowing the Unknown

The only things that are worth the trouble of creating art out of are things that I do not understand - the

44

sound that at once seduces, perplexes and troubles, or the hunch that freezes the silent lips into a shape.

The unknown is taken as a fissure in existing thought that must be filled, bridged by the production of new knowledge. Not knowing is the state from which one strive to make sense, yet the sense of what is not known can expand rather than subside through experience. The pursuit of knowledge is thus an unsolvable quest, and when the development process of a piece of work centers around a few related subject matters at the same time, it is crucial that the artist allows himself space to further question, meditate, explore and experiment. Hence art practice becomes not only a valid mode of philosophical enquiry but also provides ways of thinking and articulating knowledge that are not utilised by other disciplines.

Not knowing is encountered as an opening in the fabric of what is known, which requires a reciprocal openness, receptivity to its potential. It is therefore important for the artist to deliberately put the audience in a suspended state of mind, cognition stalled.

For Samson every single element in the work comes from an intensive research on various subject matters that is directly related or somehow relevant in a psychological, philosophical or even personal way. When information pieces are all laid out, connections are made. There may not be a conclusion, or answer, or statement, because the artist would like to invite the viewer into his thought process together. It encourages imagination and reflection of personal experience. It opens up relevant doors, cultivating second sight.

For the 57th edition of Venice Biennale, Samson will create a new body of work that attempts to reframe the popularisation of “charity singles” - purpose-made recordings for charitable causes, featuring super-group artists - as a historic “event” and a culturally transformative moment. Charity singles were the most widespread in the 1980s, and coincided in time with the rise of neo-liberalist aspirations, and the globalisation of the popular music industry. However questions were raised on their appropriateness when they attempted to remake ‘Do They Know

45

չ劢濼պ䧴贖椚劢濼鸏⦐錚䙂僽䨾剤灇

瑖涸♧⦐ꅾ銴饱럊鸏㼩嘥㎗鰜罜鎊㽍Ⱖ 䗳銴㔔捀鸏僽➮灇瑖荈䊹䠮莇馱䧴♧搂

䨾濼涸✲暟涸㈔♧椚歋姻㥶➮倴շ Softer

Landingsո䨾鎊

齡❉䧮♶僈涯涸✲暟䖃䖃僽雊䧮격 䠑蔅䊨㣗⨞谁遯ⶾ⡲涸⾲㔔Ղ齡

䪾⟂➃满鶵㔮䞨ㄤ蕲䟛涸耫갉䧴 僽齡⦐雊尐랿涸꧱㇜ⲵ穡涸湬錏

չ劢濼պ鄄鋕捀♧⦐㖈植㶸䙼䟝䗳갭㞅怏涸

鄭簧歋倞濼陏涸欴欰罜䔥ざ饱⢵ չ劢濼պ 僽♧⦐⤛⢪➃⿡㥅⸂㼦宠䠑纏涸朜䢀罜劢 濼⛓䠮⵱剚鸒麕竤뀿㟞Ꟁ罜嶋鷎僽⟃㼩濼 陏涸鷆宠⛇♧㜥搂〳鍑涸宠程罜⚂殹♧⟝ ⡲ㅷ涸涮㾝麕玑ず儘㕠粕侸⦐湱ꡠ铭겗谁

遯㹻䗳갭捀荈䊹殆瑠꟦鹎♧姿䲿㉏尐䙼 䱳程ㄤ㻜뀿歋姽谁遯㻜驏♶〫䧭捀♧⦐

〳遤涸ㆹ㷸䱳瑖垸䒭❠䲿⣘㢵珏倰䒭䙼罌 ㄤ幢嘽邍麨Ⱖ➮㷸猰尝剤ⵄ欽涸濼陏

麂♳չ劢濼պ䕱㥶麂♳䊺濼⛓暟涸緄〡鸏㜥 ⩑麂꨾銴♧珏湱✽涸Ꟛ佞䢀䏞⿡䠮「劢濼 涸〳腋䨾⟃谁遯㹻䗳갭佦䠑䧆瑠錚罏涸䗱 椚朜䢀⟂钢濼䒂姺嘥㎗鰜涸ⶾ⡲갪湡⚥

嫦♧갪⯋稇㖳⢵荈➮㽠㢵⦐铭겗䨾⡲涸鑬 湈灇瑖鸏❉铭겗㖈䗱椚ㆹ㷸欩荛⦐➃㾵

꬗騈➮湬䱺湱ꡠ䧴殜剤暽耢♧갪갪须俲꤫

⴪䖕鸮粯㽠剚䕎䧭殹⚥䧴鏪尝剤穡锸瘸 呪䧴꤫鶤㔔捀谁遯㹻妝鼝锞錚罏♧ず䫏Ⰵ Ⱖ䙼罌麕玑鸏렽⺑䟝⫹ㄤ⿾溁⦐➃竤뀿 Ꟛ㉬湱ꡠꟌ䨩㛆귢ⴽ垺滚歲

嘥㎗鰜捀痧 㾂㪮㽳倛꧱䎃㾝ⶾ⡲♧⦐

倞涸谁遯⡲ㅷ㎲鑑⟃娜〷չ渿✲պㄤ俒⻋鱲

Ying Kwok

㘗儘ⵠ捀呥卺ꅾ倞ꡪ鶤剎渿噲♧儘歋纈僤

It’s Christmas’ again in 2014. An unexplained weirdness of the

刼倴 䎃➿剓䑞捀崩遤⚛ず儘麂♳倞荈

a journey of rediscovery that informs this exhibition.

桐㈖㼠捀㊥莊扫ꏗ涸չ颌担㋲刼պ 颌担㋲

歋⚺纏涸攨劆ⱎ饱⿻崩遤갉坿䊨噠椕⻋

setup had left a mark in Samson’s consciousness, setting him on

罜շ Do They Know It’s Christmas?ո倴

Through a deliberate repurposing and creative misreading

妄扫ꏗ⚥♧珏ꨈ⟃鍑ꅼ涸䚓殯䠮㖈嘥㎗鰜

Know It’s Christmas’, the artist generates a series of objects,

勞涸ꅾ倞涮植⛓假

constitute a unique audio-visual experience. The exhibition is

䎃ⱄ䏞扫ꏗ儘㽠ⴀ植䜄殹莅や涸㉏겗鸏

of such iconic titles as ‘We Are the World’ and ‘Do They

涸䠑陏⚥殆♴⽫鎹䒸걆➮驎♳鸏妄㾝錒《

performance, and spatial sound installations that together

嘥㎗鰜诔满捀շ We Are The Worldոㄤշ Do

They Know It’s Christmas?ո瘞竤Ⱙ刼湡ꅾ佦 倞欽ㄤ⡲ⴀⶾ䠑铐隡ⶾ⡲ⴀ♧禺⴪暟⟝

怵ⴀㄤ耫갉瑠꟦酤縨ざ罜圓䧭♧⦐栬暶涸 鋕聃竤뀿㾝錒圓䙼䧭♧⦐㖈瑠꟦⚥Ꟛ㾝涸 갉坿㼠鱀雊➃鋷魨넓뀿㖈姽⫄窡颌担

姐刼涸齅鱀隶䖤垸祎䧴鄄䰎⿡竤管䱖涸䢫 ⢿鄄缺鱲䧴䳓唳㖈姽 չ劢濼պ〳⢪♧⦐➃

conceived of as an album unfolding in space to be experienced in person. In here, the logic of conventional charity songs are blurred or left behind, the coded conventions are upturned or abandoned. Here, not knowing can serve to rejuvenate one’s experience of reality, enabling it to be encountered from a fresh perspective, seen through a re-imagined state of mind. We hope you allow enough time when seeing the exhibition, as to navigate the not known requires slowing down or a re-adjustment of the regular routines while at the same time building up capacity to respond to the unexpected.

㼩植㻜涸넓뀿刿늫崞䖤⟃䖰倞錬䏞䱺鍸植 㻜鷴麕ꅾ倞䟝⫹涸䗱椚朜䢀㻤鋕植㻜䧮

⦛䋞劆ぐ⡙錚溏㾝錒儘갸殆駈㣁儘꟦㔔捀 㖈劢濼⚥菕遤꨾銴佞䢩鸠䏞䧴锅侮䌢鋊

ず儘涮㾝ⴀ♧珏腋⸂⿡㔐䥰䠑俲⛓㢫涸✲

Knowing the Unknown

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Side B

Softer Landings: An Introduction Artists respond to demands to explain their work in interviews with curious journalists, in conversation with anxious curators, and in documents that pacify institutions. These demands invariably come to the artist when the work is still being made, which is perhaps the worst moment to speak about the work. The only things that are worth the trouble of creating art out of are things that I do not understand—the sound that at once seduces, perplexes and troubles, or the hunch that freezes the silent lips into a shape. To make is to process that which desires to take flight but cannot yet be named. Eventually there will come a time, typically months after a work came into being, when I finally get around to archiving it. With the benefit of hindsight, an explanation or/of a position is formulated. I call that ‘the soft landing’. But, even after that point, the mind has been known to change: I regularly purge my archive of older works that I am no longer proud of.

We made the decision early on that this publication would not be a catalogue in the traditional sense. We wanted it to read like an anthology, or a topical issue of a periodical. This has also been an opportunity for me to make peace with some cringe-inducing inconsistencies of an earlier self that spoke too eagerly, too soon. A number of the works that are mentioned in these writings did not in fact survive the periodic ‘purge’; we are nonetheless including them here as documents.

In the pages that follow you will find interviews and essays by various authors, as well as several pieces of writing of my own. In sections (1) and (2) the pieces are presented in reverse chronological order, while in (3) they are organised by theme. The first section focuses on cultural and identity politics, which has been a recurring preoccupation of mine. My positions on cultural politics have gone through major shifts: from an interest in key notions pertaining

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to the ethics of musical appropriation, such as authenticity and misreading, to the immaterial condition of sound as a metaphor for cultural resonance. The interview with Kung Chi Shing, an experimental music pioneer, is particularly interesting to revisit as it documented the very beginning of my ‘branching out’ from the concert hall. The second section includes several overview-ofpractice pieces that were authored at different times, each several years apart. Together they constitute momentary snapshots of an evolving practice. The final section focuses on specific themes and interests in recent works, namely graphical transcription and sound drawing, history and/or conflict, sound as power, borders and lines of control, and fieldwork.

In Cantonese, the words for ‘softer’ produce exactly the same sound as the words for ‘farther away’. It’s been a really intense couple of years. I have made a few landings, some harder than others. As I count my blessings, the following pages serve also as a reminder to the self, lest I ground too soon what the heart desires to be held in suspension.

Samson Young 26 February 2017 Williston, ND

Softer Landings

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Softer Landings I. (Cultural) Politics

7

Lest I Forget Who I Am to____.

Samson Young

0

Stop telling me to stop dichotomizing the East and the West. I am not done yet. Stop delegitimizing my site of resistance. Somebody else’s version of permeability always wins, and then I get pushed to keep moving along, when my lived reality is actually anchored unless I’m pushed or pulled.

1

What does it mean to reproduce the institutions of classical music outside of the West today? What does it mean for an Asian composer to write an “opera,” a “symphony,” or a “bagatelle” - how does one gain admission into this very specific history of music making, and at what price? Without adequate answers to these questions, contemporary music of the concert hall tradition in Asia will continue to be the farce that it is today. Whether it is stated explicitly or not, the question is always one of inclusion into or exclusion from musical high culture.

2

How is the “museum of musical works” (Goehr) legetimized outside of the West? The universality of music is a lie. It is a lie that has been re-invented by the music industry to legitimatize the dominance of one kind of musical expression over all others.

3

While transnationalism, hybridity, agency and individualism are all useful frameworks, they do not fully explain the persistent attachment to real or imagined cultural identities.

4

We might theorize about a transnational composer, but where is a truly transnational music to be found?

Transnationalism ignores the rich contradictions that activate the act of border crossing in the first place:

Lest I Forget Who I Am To ____.

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the lived reality is that people stay mostly in one place unless pushed or pulled in another direction (Dirlik).

Transnationalism is dangerously suppressive, it renders individual voices indistinct.

5

Meanwhile, post-colonialism has lost its currency and creditability. Its language has lost potency. How does one stage an effective resistance today? Fanon’s question must be asked anew: how does one protest in the language of one’s perpetrators?

6

The previous generation of Asian composers demanded the world’s attention through self-Orientalizing. They became local informants. It is easy to put on a performative masquerade of the picturesque when the world is watching, but it is not always up to you to take it off when the audience becomes fixated.

7

In the context of musical inter-culturation today, certain identity positions are still more desirable than others. If our goal is to reaffirm Chinese composers’ position as individuals, then instead of turning away from cultural politics, we should take a fresh look at the operation of socio-cultural discourse in contemporary Chinese compositions. In particular, we must confront our general reluctance to deal with Chinese composers’ agency and their newfound power in the age of the post-picturesque.

8

Today, Chinese composers are certainly more than just Chinese, “Eastern,” or Oriental. Ethnic artists are undeniably respected agents with individual artistic impulses. But now that these points are self-evident, where do we go from here? Chinese composers might have found their voices, but are they speaking in their

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own version of a transnational language? If not, then what are the operational logics of Chineseness, under the new circumstances brought about by globalization?

9

John Cage’s project has failed Asia. While his philosophies are fully absorbed into the history of art, his music has been swept aside and into the dustbins of musical history.

The institutions of the music continue to neglect and negate. Composers outside of the West are invisible in their own concert halls. Meanwhile, the downtown has become the new uptown.

10

Debunking the “East Meets West” binary involves not only a destabilization of the essentialized concept of the East, but also an equally rigorous interrogation of the essentialized concept of the West. We must begin by confronting the very language with which we describe the auditory and the act of composition.

11

What does it mean to “orchestrate” and to “compose”?

Could one orchestrate and compose without reproducing the power structures that are implicit in these terminologies? What is the new silence, the new decay, the new reverb, and the new resonance?

12

Music is a system of relationships. Musical notation is a system of symbols as signs as power. How do we revive the mystical and metaphorical power of notation?

13

How does one live outside of one’s own musical training and auditory conditioning? Could one hear one’s voice outside of one’s body?

Lest I Forget Who I Am To ____.

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14

We need to think of the classical concert hall as a “crosscultural contact zone” (Ang) and a designated space of fantasy. Within such a cross-cultural contact zone, essentialization of the “West” serves two pragmatic purposes – to enable participation, and to allow marginalized groups to temporarily reclaim cultural spaces in a very privileged site within the dominant culture itself.

15

The act of composing therefore must be understood as “cross-cultural free play.” Gestures of appropriation are detached from the origin to which they refer, becoming acts of reconfiguration and misconfiguration. This is in line with what Harold Bloom in The Anxiety of Influence calls “creative misreading” – the way by which a poet clears imaginative space for oneself through deliberately and creatively misreading a precursor. For example, to declare a work an “opera” is to acknowledge an art form and its contradicting set of histories, conventions and assumptions, to give opera a “nod.” But it is also to give oneself permission to misread, misinterpret and reinterpret, and by doing so, reclaim opera as ones own.

Through the act of creative misreading, marginality and centrality may be re-imagined, albeit temporarily.

16

How does one resist the demon without giving the demon one’s thoughts?

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This publication accompanies the exhibition ‘Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief’, Hong Kong in Venice, 13 May-26 Nov, 2017, produced by M+, West Kowloon Cultural District and co-presented by M+, West Kowloon Cultural District and Hong Kong Arts Development Council.

The Exhibition

Project Team of Hong Kong Arts Development Council

Co-commissioners

Winsome Chow, Chief Executive

Wilfred Wong, Chairman, Hong Kong Arts

Betty Mak, Planning and Cultural Exchange Director

Development Council

Brenda Lam, Cultural Exchange Manager

Victor Lo, Chairman, M+ Board, West Kowloon

Florence Lau, Cultural Exchange Senior Officer

Cultural District Authority

The Working Group of Hong Kong Arts

Curator

Development Council (2016)

Ying Kwok, Guest Curator, M+

Chairman

Consulting Curator Doryun Chong, Deputy Director & Chief Curator, M+

Chris Chan Members

With

Caroline Cheng

Sonia So, Assistant Curator, Special Project, M+

Kevin Leung

Angel Hui, Curatorial Intern, M+

Alan Lo

Supported by

Magnus Renfrew

Veronica Castillo, Head, Collection & Exhibition

Ellen Pau

Services, M+

Sara Wong

Keri Towler, Senior Registrar, M+ Moody Tang, Assistant Registrar, M+ Technical Support Dino Tech Coordinator in Venice PDG Arte Communications

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The Catalogue

We would like to thank all the staff of West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, Hong Kong Arts

Published by

Development Council and all other organisations

M+, West Kowloon Cultural District

and individuals involved in the project that made all aspects of ‘Samson Young: Songs for Disaster Relief’

Contributors

possible.

Doryun Chong Seth Kim-Cohen Ying Kwok Leung Po-shan Anthony Samson Young

ISBN: 978-988-16240-6-2 Printed in Hong Kong All rights reserved. Copyright © 2017 the artist, authors, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority and

Editors

Hong Kong Arts Development Council

Ying Kwok Sonia So Copyeditors Siobhan McGowan Jenny Wilson Zhong Yuling Translators Erica Leung Bobbie Kuldip Vicky Yuen Donj Cohn Design Hato

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껻度谁遯涮㾝㽷갪湡㕰꥙

㾝錒

遤佟籏鄪ヰ諌䗱

⚺鳵堥圓➿邍

瘼ⷔ⿻俒⻋❜崩籏湌띋覝裦

껻度谁遯涮㾝㽷⚺䌏桬薊⨀

俒⻋❜崩竤椚卌듳䚃

銯⛰俒⻋⼦盘椚㽷. ⽈暟긭袚✲㽷⚺䌏繏⟗囙

俒⻋❜崩넞秹⚺⟤ⷠꨔ併

瘼㾝➃

껻度谁遯涮㾝㽷䊨⡲㼭穉 䎃

M+㹐䌏瘼㾝➃鿓榫

⚺䌏

곃㉏瘼㾝➃

꤫ꐘ䧭

M+ⶰ籏湌⿻籏瘼㾝➃ꁀ麥ꑙ

䧭㆞

莅

ꁀ狃

M+⸔椚瘼㾝➃豤㮵㮵

哀䃪⟤

M+瘼㾝㻜绢欰鏪䢵鑘

繏䳓⪂

⼿⸂

Magnus Renfrew 늄豀⧍

M+긭询⿻㾝鋰剪⹡⚺盘Veronica Castillo

랔䘋䚻

M+넞秹긭询盘椚⚺⟤Keri Towler M+긭询⸔椚盘椚⚺⟤ꀶ㣆蘟

䪮遯佅䴂 Dino Tech

㪮㽳倛窡硁

PDG Arte Communications

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㕮ꏗ

䧮⦛阌姽䠮闒銯⛰俒⻋⼦盘椚㽷껻度谁遯涮㾝㽷涸䨾剤

ⴀ晝

圓ㄤ⦐ⴽ➃㡦

銯⛰俒⻋⼦M+鋕錏俒⻋⽈暟긭 ⡲罏

ꁀ麥ꑙ

Seth Kim-Cohen 鿓榫

ず✲⿻ぐ⦐雊չ嘥㎗鰜涸颌担㼠鱀պ갪湡䖤⟃㕩怏鹎遤涸堥

*4#/ 껻度⽫醢

晝奚䨾剤缺⽫䗳瑖晝奚㿂谁遯㹻⡲罏銯⛰俒⻋⼦盘椚 㽷⿻껻度谁遯涮㾝㽷䨾剤 h

哀㼂㿋 嘥㎗鰜 管鱀

鿓榫

豤㮵㮵 㻤珳

Siobhan McGowan Jenny Wilson ꓃桪梥 缺陼

哀撏蘟

Bobbie Kuldip 邿証ꩾ

Donj Cohn 鏤鎙 Hato

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