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Artist Statement

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He’s nearing the brink, but he thinks first, THE PARALLEL UNIVERSE PERHAPS COULD BE THE PERFECT SCENE.

A repeating line from D is for Dangerous, a 2007 song by Arctic Monkeys has involuntarily given me the biggest wonder of the fantastic idea of parallel universe for over a decade. I wonder how the sound of a parallel universe is like, how perfect it could be in another space-time. The concept of parallel universe has its very meaning to me not as a difficult physicist theorisation, but an idea to be characterised and narrated, just like in literature, in a romanticised form. Contextualising the quantum theory create infinite rooms for imagination, distinctive from physics or mathematics. It is its uncertainty and mystery that makes me want to believe it is a perfect space, perhaps full of wonderful sounds or other qualities. Converting textual notions into this sound installation is my endeavour to materialise my own interpretation of such idea called parallel universe. 

The tape loop sound installation addresses the question of our existences. In my mind a parallel universe is almost identical to ours geographically. There are doppelgängers of us, but with different experiences and identities. Just like our sound input that gets manipulated and becomes almost unrecognisable going through the complicated sound system, our existences in the parallel universe are perhaps of the same base but is evolved differently according to the different settings there. Electro-mechanical delay and acoustical resonance symbolise the system components that may define our existence distinctive of our physical reality. The acrylic box is signifies the parallel universe, which is presented as if it is an opportunity for us to experience the mysterious unknown dimension visually but most importantly, through the outputting speaker, in sonic matters. 

I also attempt to question our existence within this technological heaven. The installation employs primarily low techs, including cassette dictaphones, old microphones and simple amplifiers. The defected qualities and unexpected malfunctions like wobbling of tape loop create sounds that do not much resemble our perceptual reality. Adding to the electro-mechanical delay, harsh resonance within enclosed acrylic surfaces, the sound becomes what seems to be non-ideal perceptual quality in this digital age. Noises, uncertain frequencies and blurry sounds - how can we manage to embrace these things brought by the obsolete or unwanted technologies when the technological advances have already provided us with “perfect” qualities? Our existences are the contribution to technological development, but simultaneously, our existences can also be matters that keep the if we are willing to appreciate the existences of older technologies. 

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