JUA, Sound in the SoundScape

Okayama Art Summit 2022

30 September to 27 November, 2022.

Artistic Director: Rirkrit Tiravanija

https://www.okayamaartsummit.jp/2022/en/about/

Art Labor in collaboration with Jrai artists　

JUA - SOUND IN THE SOUNDSCAPE　

2022

Bamboo, steel, sculpturee, found object and sound

Dimension variable

In collaboration with Rcham Jeh, Kpuih Gloh, Rahlan Loh, Puih Han, Siu Lon, Rolan Aleo and Siu Kin

Art Labor would like to present the project JUA - SOUND IN THE SOUNDSCAPE, through its context, inspiration, and collaborative agents.

JUA is a beautiful word in Jrai language – the major indigenous community living in the Vietnam Central Highlands prior to the arrival of the Kinh (Viet) people.

JUA indicates a dynamic state varying in between water and air, which can be a stream of water, rainy cloud, a breeze, a breath or wind. It represents climate and nature. Minutely it can describe how the leaves breathe. Allegorically it can imply the vaporization of things: land, forest, human, capital, labor, etc. 

JUA is a continuation of Jrai Dew in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, a journey that we form the connection with our Jrai neighbors through the traditional wood carving collaboration. From the Jrai cosmology of the interminable movement between water and air, JUA extends it allegorically to the constant transformation of the ecology and society of the Central Highlands. We view the soundscape upon the entire territory as a platform for human and non-human agents to explore, challenge each other and create hybrid resonance.

Inspired by traditional Jrai bamboo musical instruments played not by human but by the air, the water and the wind, which are usually installed in the rice paddies to chase away wild birds that come for the young crops. This contemporary soundscape is a combination of both natural materials like: bamboo, wood and industrialised materials such as steel, corrugated iron and motor.

With special thanks to Truong Minh Tuan, Mao Hashinokuchi, Daisuke Yabuki and Rirkrit Tiravanija

Video documentation of “Jua, Sound in the Soundscape”

Jua, Sound in the Soundscape, installation view at Hayashibara Museum of Art

Jua, Sound in the Soundscape, installation view at Hayashibara Museum of Art

Jua, Sound in the Soundscape, installation view at Hayashibara Museum of Art