● Project Website: https://soundboxes.net/
A city is like a vast container, encompassing the chirps of birds, barks of dogs, human chatters, as well as the noises of traffic and construction sites. Activities happening in nature or facilitated by humans never cease to occur and to generate sounds. These sounds, which permeate our daily lives, come together to form delicate fragments of a place’s past and present. They quietly accumulate beyond the bounds of language and shape our understanding of a city. In order to capture, replicate, represent, and play these audio fragments, various devices for sound production and reproduction have been invented. These devices themselves, too, act as containers which facilitate the reception and circulation of intricate, mundane secrets.
Put’em in a Box is an ongoing sonic writing research project curated by Shih Ya Tien. It invites 5 artists residing in different cities—Chi Po Hao, Chloe Lin, Samuel Beilby, Sarah Song, suzueri (Elico Suzuki)—to share their unique perspectives on sounds through their artistic practices, and, furthermore, to exchange materials such as field recordings capturing the sounds of their local environments. This project experiments with conversions between visual and audio interfaces, while also exploring how sounds are captured, interpreted, and expressed. Through the artists’ layered reception and interpretation of sounds at the locations where they listen, in video call windows on screens, in chats, in mailed cardboard boxes, and, ultimately, within white cubes, the multifaceted attributes of Taipei, Tainan, Tokyo, Perth, and Helsinki are beautifully illustrated.
● Designer: Mia Huang
● Website Developer: Vasco
● Translators: Naifei Wu, Ya Tien Shih
● Photographer: Addison Ow
● Venue Support: Sonic Sensory Lab
● Sponsor: National Culture and Arts Foundation