Cia Himiân Lí

The entire project was developed in four themes: Sonic Consciousness, Language Consciousness, Natural Farming Soundscapes, and Yeast and Fermentation. I took "Sonic Consciousness" as the core of my final concept, extracting sounds recorded during the exploration of the other three themes, rearranging and mixing them in the later stages of my residency. This approach enables the interaction and immersion of sounds with various textures, fields, and locations within the space and time I create. 

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The sound piece, lasting thirty minutes, begins with an individual learning a language and humming a melody. The voice carries the lyrics of the ancient song "Vual" from the Siraya people, which describes parts of the human body and the secret meanings of the unknown "subtext." You will also hear the soundscape of fields cultivated through natural farming, featuring the sounds of crops, birds, snails, and human labor in the soil, along with the sounds of unknown insects and microorganisms, representing the voices of various lives "living," which is Vual ka tu rbo ki nay / Sin, tī Thô͘-bah--ni̍h (Body of Underground).

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In the second part, you will hear the sounds of glutinous rice fermenting, converting, and brewing. Approaching the ending, sounds emerge from glutinous rice wine fermented with six different yeast strains and the resulting lees, as well as taro wine mentioned in archives, which become part of an electronic circuit when powered, emitting electronic sounds at varying frequencies. Vual ka mapingit / Sin, tī Hoat-kàⁿ--ni̍h (Body of Under Fermentation).

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On the other side of the exhibition space, an important academic paper interpreting the meanings of the ancient song lyrics, as deciphered by linguists reviving the Siraya language, is displayed. From the ancient song recordings made by Erin Asai (浅井 恵倫) in 1939, over eighty years later, the linguistic analysis and research have revealed the meanings within the lyrics. The ancient song is being sung again in the tribe. This process reflects the relationship of mutual shaping between consciousness and ethnic identity. As someone who has only recently returned to practicing Taiwanese after learning the writing system over the past three to four years, like me, I find this very resonant. The other connection features the website for the entire project and a reading list that accompanied me throughout the process, reflecting my curiosities.

Over the past two years, my experiences and research regarding these themes, along with the sensations gained from my tongue (not just language, but also food choices), it felt like learning to become a "human," cultivating a "new" body, and building a renewed, clearer, broader, and freer consciousness.

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From the perspective of sound to understand the world, I often feel that many perceptions are from a singular angle, interpreted, explained, and constructed by people. This solo exhibition serves as a preface. Because all the scattered clues begin to connect into a three-dimensional pattern, the song continues to be listened to, learned, and sung. All the languages that are "reviving" on this island are still there, waiting for people to learn how to speak, how to read and write, to see the wounds, and to heal… 02/27/2025