Worlds Apart

Oct 09, 2019, 01:01 PM

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The Assumption of Mary reimagined by Chow Ow Wei and Ahmad Faudzi Musib.

"The bells of the celebration in this Greek serene little island become one of the reasons for visitors from all walks of life who may have travelled far enough to look at another world, or just to escape from the world they dwell in. Along the journey, they carry many things with them: the imagination of the anticipated destination, the idea of searching for happiness, a secret love, or the turmoil in their mind. Despite the most jubilant, tranquil and sacred sound of the celebration, they are confronted and haunted by the trauma that resurfaces at the doorways as some riotous memories. They chose to visit this serene island to get recharged before their return like most visitors would do. But, some will soon realise that turbulence is inside their mind even when the water is calm, and the closer they are to the world, the more unconnected they would feel. Amidst the joyful moments with acquitted people in the celebration, they feel excluded for not being understood by the surroundings. Subsequently, they would not stop to travel and still search for a way to deal with what they have carried with them along the journey.

This work attempts not just to express a traveller’s feeling of being unconnected to the world he travels to, but also, in another context, to relate to the idea of not being comprehended in the world he lives in. It illustrates a soundscape of embarking on a journey from a point to another, where on one hand a traveller is greeted by welcoming subjects along the way but on another hand he is confronted by his traumatic and painful experiences from now and then. This work also delivers a regard to a recent, massive protest in an Asian metropolis where the elevating level of violence and brutality in the riots has received enormous global concerns; people connected to this city are indeed feeling like living in worlds apart.

Despite the designated source sound provided by Cities and Memory, this work also features an original music piece and utilises numerous sound samples in a collage that were captured from news coverage on YouTube."

Part of the Three Words project - find out more at http://www.citiesandmemory.com/three-words