IRIS CHUN-TZU CHANG

Weaving chant, tracing home  2024 

Weaving chant, tracing home is a soundscape composition piece in which I reimagined and recomposed the field recording of The Tabernacle from the Migration Sounds archive.

The history of the Tabernacle's transformation from a church into a multicultural hub has inspired my creation. In Taiwan, temples also hold significant importance as gathering places, serving as focal points for communal and spiritual activities. As a multicultural island country with a long historical tradition of immigration since the 17th century, Taiwan has witnessed waves of people arriving from various places. Those who crossed the sea to Taiwan brought with them their local beliefs, which took root and flourished in this dynamic and diverse environment.

Reflecting on my multiple moving experiences, I no longer have the opportunity to return to my old homes. However, the temples near my old homes still stand. They were the spiritual support for my family while we lived there. I revisited temples where I had worshipped throughout my life, capturing field recordings both inside and outside these sacred spaces. The distances between my homes and the temples became reference coordinates for composition.

During the process of collecting sounds, an unexpected coincidence occurred. One of the temples was undergoing renovation, and the sounds of construction intertwined with the monks' evening chants. The repetitive rhythm of human striking the wooden fish resonated with the flowing industrial machine noise, as if everything was in a state of becoming, with the space encompassing all.

I proportionally stretched the field recording from the Migration Sounds archive based on the distance between the UK and Taiwan. Since leaving the UK in 2020 due to the pandemic, memories of living in London have become distant and vague. As I collaged the recordings with those I collected in Taiwan, the layered percussive rhythms turned into a woven chant, retracing the memories of home.  

今年初作為獲選藝術家參與了由 Cities and Memory （「城市與記憶」聲音計畫）和牛津大學 Centre on Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) 合作的專案「Migration Sounds」，以創作重新詮釋與想像 Migration Sounds archive 中來自世界各地的田野錄音。我獲得的素材是於英國倫敦 The Tabernacle (諾丁山會幕) 收錄的聲音檔。曾經是教堂的 The Tabernacle 現今成為多元文化的匯聚地與社區藝術中心，其充滿彈性與韌性的宗教空間使我想起臺灣多元共融的廟宇文化。

自十七世紀以來，渡海來臺的移居者帶著各自地方的信仰，落地生根。廟宇對於許多臺灣島民而言，不僅是宗教空間，也是重要的生活空間。回望自身成長過程中多次的移居經驗，廟宇似乎成為了某種趨近永恆的座標。我不再有機會能回到過去的家，但舊家附近的廟宇仍常在，他們是我過去居住時家族的心靈寄託。

創作 Weaving chant, tracing home 期間，我重新回訪生命中參拜過的數座廟宇，在廟宇內外進行田野錄音，而家與寺廟的距離成為聲音延展拼貼的參照座標。採集聲音的過程發生了一個出乎意料的巧合，其中一間寺廟正在整建，施工的聲音與僧侶晚課誦經的聲音互相交織，人類身體反覆敲擊木魚的節奏與工業機械噪音共振，空間涵融一切的聲音。

我將 Migration Sounds Archive 中於 The Tabernacle 錄製的田野錄音依循著距離等比例拉長、放慢，與在臺灣錄製的田野錄音拼貼疊合。錄音檔中 steel band 的打擊節奏像是被雨水所暈染，成為編織吟唱的基底。自2020離開英國後，倫敦似乎也成為了我的另一個模糊的故鄉。