bayin (transmitter and receiver)

Made as a part of Mountain Call, a two-person show with Ivan David Ng at Roots & Culture in Chicago, IL.

Made collaboratively across distance, the exhibition draws on the improvisational practice of “Shan Ge” (lit. mountain song) used by Hakka laborers and farmers to communicate with each other across large distances while cultivating crops on cliffs and hills, as songs were easier to understand than spoken language. As a conceptual framework, the pieces in the exhibition pull references from Hakka bayin music, early radio experiments, and the Mogao caves to speculatively explore the transmission of information and knowledge, across time and space.

Bayin, is a traditional classification of Chinese instruments. Literally meaning "eight sounds," it points at eight traditional materials used to construct instruments. The eight materials are: metal, stone, silk, bamboo, gourd, clay, hide, wood.

Photos by Robert Chase Heishman for Bob.

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Reviews:

“Mountain Call” by Hai-Wen Lin and Ivan David Ng Arranges Its Own Harmony by Yi Cynthia Chen for New City Art.

Mountain Call: An Interview with Ivan David Ng and Hai-Wen Lin by Riley Yaxley for Sixty Inches from Center