WISWOS HEAR SAY

The artist organisations Ting Shuo Hear Say and Women in Sound Women on Sound (WISWOS) have come together to create this call for three UK based women working in sound art and experimental music. These selected artists will be partnered with a female Taiwanese collaborator to create a track for publication on a compilation album in September 2021.

The below selected artists will be supported by both organisations to promote their practice through online interviews, media attention, and opportunities to present this project output to an international audience.

Ting Shuo Hear Say Project purpose and rationale for partnering with WISWOS

Ting Shuo Hear Say’s collaboration with WISWOS aims to foreground female sound practitioners and support networks that prioritise female participation. Presentation opportunities for sound art and experimental music can perpetuate a recycling of ideas and approaches, in part due to a lack of space for new methodologies to develop without compromise. We hope these collaborations both challenge the artists involved and support them in extending their practices at a time when reaching outside of our immediate environments has become increasingly difficult. May they be the beginning of an ongoing conversation.

Accessibility and participation have always been a focus of Ting Shuo Hear Say activities, but this is the first time we have explicitly addressed gender inequality. We are excited to collaborate with the UK organisation WISWOS, who have a history of research-informed, practical initiatives and international collaborations addressing the issue. We can see the potential for learning from their experience and applying these learnings in our local

Collaboration pairing, Manuella Blackburn and Chloe Yu Nong Lin

Manuella

Manuella Blackburn is an electroacoustic music composer who specializes in fixed media creation. She has composed for loudspeakers, instruments and electronics, laptop ensemble improvisations, and music for dance. Manuella Blackburn has worked in residence in the studios of Miso Music (Lisbon, Portugal), EMS (Stockholm, Sweden), Atlantic Centre for the Arts (New Smyrna Beach, FL, USA), and Kunitachi College of Music (Tokyo, Japan).

Manuella’s sound art practice focuses on microscopic sonic detail and how these miniature materials can be organised within works of sound art. This process has led to new creations based on inherently small materials (clock’s ticking, ice cubes cracking, light switches turning on/off and electrical appliance bleeps). Manuella’s interests also extend to the world of sampling and intercultural exchanges that translate into music making.

Manuella has received a number of international awards and prizes for her acousmatic music including: Grand Prize in the Digital Art Awards (Fujisawa, Japan, 2007), First Prize in the 7th and 10th Concurso Internacional de Composição Electroacústica Música Viva (Lisbon, Portugal, 2006, ’09), First Prize in the Musica Nova International Competition of Electroacoustic Music (Prague, Czech Republic, 2014), International Computer Music Association European Regional Award (Australia, 2013), 3rd Prize in the Diffusion Competition (Ireland, 2008), Public Prize in the Concurso Internacional de Composição Eletroacústica (CEMJKO, Brazil, 2007) and Honorary Mentions in the Centro Mexicano para la Música y las Artes Sonoras (CMMAS) competition (Morelia, Mexico, 2008) and in the Concurso Internacional de Música Eletroacústica de São Paulo (CIMESP ’07, Brazil).

Chloe

Pipa musician and experimental composer from Taiwan. Lin graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Sound. Her sound projects mainly focus on pipa improvisation and experimental composition. Lin's live performance centers on the relationship of the performing body and the instrument. Through improvisation, Lin would like to discover a more innovative sound of pipa. To live out her various creativities, Lin is also interested in transforming any kind of sound material into an instrument for improvised performance. Since 2017, she has been playing with many sound artists and improvisors around Chicago. Lin's debut pipa electroacoustic album was released by Chicago experimental label Monastral on March 1st, 2021.
林雨儂
台灣的琵琶演奏家及實驗性作曲家。畢業於芝加哥藝術學院聲音藝術碩士。她的創作專注於琵琶個人即興演奏與實驗性作曲，現場演出傾心在演奏肢體與樂器的融合ㄧ體之關係上，企圖透過即興演出挖掘更多琵琶聲音不同的樣貌。2017年開始在美國芝加哥廣泛與聲音藝術家、音樂家進行即興演出。林於2021年3月1日即將由美國實驗廠牌Monastral發行第一張個人數位琵琶電聲專輯《Pi Sound 琵聲》。
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Francesca Simmons and Li-Chin Li,
© Image; Francesca Simmons and Li-Chin Li,, 2021

Collaboration pairing: Li-Chin Li and Francesca Simmons

Li-Chin

Li-chin is a young Taiwanese sheng performer, who belongs to a small group of musicians with the ability to both compose and perform music. Once an official member of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra, Li-chin is currently a member of the Ka Dao Yin Music Group (aka Caught Up In), whose debut album titled “Slow” won the Best Fusion Album at the 25th Golden Melody Awards for Traditional Arts and Music in 2014. In recent years, Li-chin has been dedicating herself to the integration of sheng and electronic music creation & images. In recent years, Li-chin has devoted herself in exploring performing forms between sheng and performing arts.
李俐錦 LI Li-chin (1988)
李俐錦是臺灣少數演奏及創作兼具的笙獨奏家，演奏風格多元、表演極具開創性，近年致力與各國藝術家合作及表演藝術創作。曾任香港中樂團正職笙樂師，現為獨立音樂家及卡到音即興樂團成員，參與該團《慢》獲第25屆傳藝金曲獎「最佳跨界音樂專輯」。曾以笙演奏《Super Mario Bros.》一曲受到英國BBC、美國The Verge等國際媒體關注。25歲在兩廳院舉辦個人全創作音樂會《玩樂女笙》獲第13屆臺新藝術獎提名，並接連獲選國立傳統藝術中心音樂人才培育計畫 ─「大師門徒與夥伴計畫」、Camping臺北表演藝術中心X法國國家舞蹈中心之交流藝術家、廣藝愛樂miXtage計畫演出共同創作「THE ULTIMATE MUSIC BATTLE電光聲影」音樂會。以「笙計畫」獲國家文化藝術基金會「海外藝遊專案」到法國參與笙國際研究案，並演出多場音樂會。李俐錦除了多次受邀國內外擔任協奏及獨奏，更積極拓展器樂演奏家在劇場中的主體性及笙的演奏多樣化。

Francesca

Francesca/Madame Ceski is a Welsh composer & multi-disciplinary soloist & collaborator, based in Bristol. Using song, improvisation, performance & experimentation, her work focuses on ‘folk’ in its widest sense – people’s habits & traditions, ranging from the mundane to the spiritual.
Her work is string & vocal based with improvisation & field recordings, juxtaposing classical acoustic instruments, fluid tuning systems & handmade sounds. She often collaborates with animation-music collectives (The Paper Cinema & 1927 theatre) and has also run away to join a circus (Giffords Circus).
Recent projects include a mentorship with sound artist Kathy Hinde, a Sound&Music Covid-19 Composer’s Award, and creating a video graphic score for Ty Cerdd’s CoDI Abrofol project for Angharad Davies, Rhodri Davies & Siwan Rhys.

Collaboration pairing: Elaine Cheng and Sheryl Cheung,

Elaine

Elaine Cheng (she/her) is a composer/sound artist from Edinburgh, Scotland and from Hong Kong descent. Her practice is currently based around producing drone music from analog and modular synthesisers and has come from a compositional background in electroacoustic music. She has recently completed the Creative Practice Masters at Goldsmiths, University of London, under the supervision of Dr. Iris Garrelfs. In her latest body of work, Instead of Dreams (2020) – due to be released with NX Records in May 2021 – she explores compositional techniques in drone and takes inspiration from her choral training in early music.
Prior to this, Elaine has studied Music at Newcastle University and Musikwissenschaft at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin where she fostered her interest in working in sound.
Elaine has exhibited sound work in the Culture Lab, Square One and Occasion Festival in Newcastle, as well as at Trinity Apse in the Edinburgh Student Arts Festival (ESAF). In 2017, she was nominated for an award for her work, Happy Accidents, at the Edinburgh Student Arts Festival.

Sheryl

Sheryl Cheung experiments with the idea of the body as an instrument that is continually played by affects. Like an open, metabolic body, her sound palette is vulnerable and harsh at the same time. Sheryl works between experimental music, abstract scoring and writing to explore a materialist understanding of power, emotion and moral order. Her recent research focuses on sound and medicine through the perspective of Chinese ontology.
Sheryl earned her Master of Arts from University of Manchester (2009) and her Bachelors of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute (2005). She has held supported residencies, workshops and research projects in China, UK, Thailand, Korea and Taiwan. Her work, performances and collaborative projects have been shown at Taiwan Biennial 2020, Flaneur Festival 2019, Taipei Biennial 2018, Asian Meeting Festival, Somerset House studios, Osmosis Festival and Chronus Art Center, among others. Sheryl is a co-founder of lololol.net, an art project that is currently exploring Taoist-informed mind and body technologies. She currently lives and works in Taipei, where she is an independent artist and writer.
張欣
張欣的聲音像是頗開的生命體，同時間暴力且脆弱，裸露地展現內部運動中情緒、力量和道德之間的複雜關係。受斯賓諾莎和道家哲學所影響，將身體視為一個持續被情感彈奏的樂器，體內外世界有著普世的聯結和呼應。畢業於曼徹斯特大學碩士，經常受邀出演個人或合作項目。於中國、泰國、韓國、英國、台灣等地進行駐地創作和研究項目，並獲得2018年香港畫廊的海外駐地資金。作品發表於台灣雙年展、Asia Meeting Festival、世界文化宮、桑默塞特府工作室等平台。張欣是藝術計畫lololol.net的共同創辦人。
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