Art Metropole

#15382

te magazine no. 2: Song of the Nightingale

Date

2023

Publisher

te magazine

Format

Periodicals

ISBN

9781957144702

Genre

Culture

Description

N°2 Song of the Nightingale

The expression “speak out” in Chinese is fā shēng, which literally means “to produce sound”. It often has a vital social component, but at the same time emphasizes an immediate choice and agency. While Michel Chion interprets sound as a cognitive act, “to produce sound” is more of a concrete social practice, one that creates a spark. te’s second issue takes inspiration from recent events and debates reverberating all around us, and the 10 pieces in this issue investigate the transformative points of contact where sound, language and action intersect. Together, the contributors discuss this abstract and ubiquitous medium, creating an album of diverse and dialogical tracks. The appeal of sound lies in its improvisation, but it remains mysterious due to the various roles that it has played historically and in modern society, as well as its absence of physical form. How can we use words to describe sound? How does sound operate in different contexts? What does it mean to speak out? How does sound become a form of individual expression and what are its possibilities and limits? There are no correct answers to these questions, and finding an answer may no longer be relevant at this point. But this issue may offer some ways to navigate our current dilemmas. In Xenia Benivolski’s contribution to the issue, she considers British radio broadcasts during the Second World War. When the nightingale songbirds and cellist Beatrice Harrison’s ensemble played, this music composed between nature and humanity was so magical that the BBC used it to soothe the minds of listeners in the midst of war. And what’s more, nightingales have two distinct traits: they migrate with the seasons and they sing out in the dark.

Hay-Hah Citizen
Moe Satt

Featuring:

Residual Lives
Mi Chan Wai

I’m heading home! The Labor Exchange Band Marches on
interview with Chung Yung-Feng

Let’s not be afraid! New Immigrant Women Take Action
interview with Hsia Hsiao-Chuan

Slipping into the Sea
Hu Wei

It’s Not Just a Sign Language: It’s a Scene Language
Coversation between Jonathas de Andrade and Anderson Almeida-Sliva & Andrew Nevins

Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: Migratory Alchemical Transformations
Laurel V. McLaughlin

The Case of The Three Amazing Moments
Musquiqui Chihying

(dawr) – Searching for The Sound of Salvation-Interview with Guangtian Ha
interviewed and edited by Zeng Yukun, ZY

What on Earth
Xenia Benivolski

Telepathy
interview with Sturla Brandth Grøvlen

About:
te is an annual bilingual publication of contemporary art and cultural anthropology. Each issue expands on a specific theme, and we invite practitioners in diverse fields to explore and reflect on the dynamic cultural landscapes across regions. Recurring motifs include the fluidity of cultures, languages and beliefs in specific communities and the adaptation of individual narratives to the shifting social and geopolitical environment.

te aims to create an open creative platform. The form of our content ranges from essays and interviews to poetry, photography and more. We also publish manuscripts, personal notes, archival records and other primary sources that complement and animate the authors’ reflections. We’d like to see the content te shares with its readers as extending from the professional and creative practices of our contributors in their respective fields; at the same time, we are excited about generating new forms of content through the cross-pollination of ideas, perspectives and approaches inherent in our editorial process.

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