penghusound

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Penghu Experimental Sound Studio 2024 Long-term project, underwater recording in the coral reefs.

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Welcome

Penghu archipelago is a group of 90+ islands and islets located in the Taiwan Strait. This website retraces the activities of the project Penghu Experimental Sound Studio initiated by Yannick Dauby (who first visited Penghu in 2004), and presents some related creations, often in collaboration with Wan-Shuen Tsai (who is a native from Penghu).

The project is still going on : regular creations, educational activities but also the Penghu Underwater Sound Archive which has been fed by sounds recorded since 2017, every year except 2023. To be continued...

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2023 : "Selected landscapes…", video

*** WARNING : SCREENER. The original version was composed in 5.1. The video file here has been reduced to stereo for presentation purpose on this website. Feel free to contact to get a link to the full artwork in 5.1 sound and 4K resolution. GOOD LOUDSPEAKERS OR HEADPHONES ARE MANDATORY. ***

“ Selected landscapes, vocal events, outdoor ambiences and radio transmissions, documented through the years in Penghu Archipelago, Taiwan ” A sound film by Yannick Dauby, 2023, 20min34.

“ The landscape is coded. Entry points into the future=Levels in a spinal landscape=zones of significant time. ” J.G. Ballard, The Terminal Beach, 1964

Penghu archipelago is located in the Taiwan Strait. Its flat volcanic islands are inhabited since Song dynasty by fishermen communities. Overfishing since the second half of the 20th century and climate change are threats to its marine ecosystems, and nowadays the main ressource of the archipelago, served by Penghu Airport, is tourism. Development, limited by the energy and water ressources and the general infrastructures, has sometimes been led in erratic way, such as the infamous casino project and the construction of a Matzu statue.

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2022 : "Planktos", video

An animation created with photographies (Kyocera Samurai x3.0) of the feeding behaviour of Ophiuridae (Brittle Stars), in homage to the plankton, minuscule wanderers, crucial source of food to numerous marine species.

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2019 : "Under the surface, the dreaming and lingering ones", exhibition

by Yannick Dauby, Wan-Shuen Tsai & Gaël Le Friec

The Center of the world is located on the Seashores.

Islands are always seen as sea surface protrusions or navigation targets. Yet, since lakes and rivers are, for us, holes and grooves on the Earth, then Penghu islands are actually hollows to the Sea, hollows where various lifeforms breed and go through trials. Lying at the edge of the hollows is that very other world. Once life crosses the borderline, everything is odd, not to mention the way to breathe. What is felt as a strange and magical unknown should be experienced as a familiar world, a world closer to us than it appears.

The artists who contributed to this exhibition are Yannick Dauby, Gaël Le Friec and Wan-Shuen Tsai. Yannick, sound artist, is working on art projects in touch with ecology and environment in Taiwan. Gaël produces crafted objects in his own workshop, l’Atelier du Petit Jour, through his personal cultural background and using local materials on this island where he has been living for years. Wan-Shuen, native from Penghu, devotes herself to visual arts, poetry and other forms of art practice. The dialogues between the artists and their appreciation of the features of the Penghu Reclamation Hall stimulated collaboration and exchanges during the creation process.

Through the last centuries, Ocean was transformed into a complex economical and political battefield, an objet of human material and symbolic desires. In this exhibition, the artists approached the coastal and tidal areas as an experimental playground, deploying videos, images, installations and crafted objets. They invite the public to renew their perception of the marine environment and to experience intimately and imaginatively its organic quality and cultural role.

Location : Penghu Reclamation Hall

Address : No. 30號, Zhiping Road, Magong City, Penghu County, 880

Dates : February 2 - June 9 2019

Hours : Wednesday to Sunday 09:00-12:00, 14:00-17:00

＊開幕茶會暨展出者導覽：108年2月9日(六) 14:30-16:00

＊地點：澎湖開拓館庭園(澎湖縣馬公市治平路30號)

＊展期：108年2月9日-108年6月9日

＊開放參觀時間：週三-週日 09:00-12:00, 14:00-17:00

澎湖開拓館簡介：https://www.penghu.gov.tw/phhcc/home.jsp?id=110

展出介紹：

《世界的中心，在蜿蜒的海岸帶》

多數時候人們認為，島嶼是海平面上的凸出物與航行標的。但如果我們將陸上的湖泊和溪流，視為土地的眾多凹洞與細長下陷，那散佈於海上的澎湖島群，其實就像是一個個大海的神秘空缺。而這些海洋空缺的邊緣接逢處，是各種生命形式的孕育場、試煉場，與另一個三維異質空間的起始_因為只要一跨過那條界線，連呼吸的方式都不同了！

那裡是一個陌生又魔幻之地，一如未知的遠方。同時，也應當親密如我們的日常。

「海潮下暝夢」的展出者：澎葉生，是法籍聲音藝術工作者，十年來持續在台灣發展與生態、環境相關的聲音藝術計劃。林建良，移居澎湖十餘年，近年創立 L’Atelier du Petit Jour工作室，陸續創作出揉和自身文化背景與在地素材的精彩物件。蔡宛璇，於澎湖出生成長，從事視覺藝術也偶有詩創作，作品形式多樣。三位參展者透過對展出空間特質的掌握、與創作過程的交互對話，共同完成了本展中一定比例的作品。

本創作展運用影音、圖像、空間裝置、物件設計等方式，將島嶼被海水浸潤的部分(潮間帶)面貌，轉譯為一些可感形式。在「海���」早已成為複雜經濟網絡、政治角力場、和當代人類生活模式危機揭露處的今日，他們以個人觀察觸角，回到感知層次、交織文化語境，邀我們重新召喚自己，對於海和島作為一完整生命體的想像。

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2018 : Funding and Report (National Culture and Arts Foundation, Taiwan)

Penghu Experimental Sound Studio was supported by National Culture and Arts Foundation (NCAF 國藝會) for a new period of underwater recording and for the construction of a new autonomous device. This grant allowed a big improvement in the quality and diversity of audio recordings.

The evolution of the project, the details of the methods are described in the following report :

The following playlist on Soundcloud is a selection of recordings starting from this period, please listen :

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2017 : "Dit lip hue hng 直​入​花​園", electroacoustic composition

PENGHU EXPERIMENTAL SOUND STUDIO #3

« The title of this sound piece is borrowed to Nanguan, an ancient music style from Southern China, still practiced in Taiwan. This song, part of a Taoist ritual, describes a journey into an other-wordly and colorful garden. The condition of the plants and the pavilion seen on the path would reflect the participant's future.

I have been visiting Penghu archipelago, Taiwan, since 2004. Its islands, surrounded by blue-green water, and battled by the wind during the Winter, are presenting a unique landscape of basalt structures, prairies and houses made of coral blocks. But the most attractive and precious environments are underwater. In 2008, a cold water stream, consequence of climate change, destroyed a large part of the coral reefs. Overfishing, drifting garbage, abandoned fishing nets and construction projects constitute a huge pressure on these natural habitats. I have done underwater recordings since a while, but it is only this year that I finally started a more systematic sound documentation, in collabo- ration with marine biologists, experimenting with recording techniques, initiating a sound archive and bioacoustic survey. I consider Dit lip hue hng as a metaphor : visiting these underwater gardens and observing their condition might give us a hint about our own future as a human species. »

Field recordings & composition : Yannick Dauby 澎葉生 Nanpa and interviewee : Yung-Chieh Chang 張詠捷 Voice : Lysianassa Dauby 澎科萌

Commissioned by Bogong Centre for Sound Culture for the event "The Ecology of Place", Melbourne, Australia, June 2017. bogongsound.com.au

Release by Kalerne Editions (Taiwan) and Discrepant (UK) in November 2020. Please check the first two volumes of the series Penghu Experimental Sound Studio, published as 12" records. discrepant.net

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2017 : "How Corals Think 珊瑚如何思考", exhibition

"How Corals Think" is an exhibition combining an essay and underwater recordings related to the project Penghu Experimental Sound Studio. The photo above was taken in 2023 during its last incarnation (Tokyo, Japan).

This video retraces my first successful audio recordings in the coral reefs in Penghu archipelago and the sharing of ideas which came to my mind, related to readings in anthropology and biosemiotics.

The original mixed-media installation entitled "How Corals Think", was an invitation by curator Hsu Manray for the exhibition "The South", at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Taiwan, in 2017, and which was soon shown in Prizren for the Kosovo Biennale 2017, at TheCube Space Project, in Taipei, for the exhibition "Ocean after Nature" curated by Alaina Claire Feldman and adapted into a sound piece for YNK/SAVVY radio program curated by Nicolas Perret and Silvia Ploner during Documenta #14. It was also part of the exhibition "Under the Surface, the Dreaming and Lingering Ones" with Wan-Shuen Tsai and Gaël Le Friec, at the Penghu Reclamation Hall, Makong in 2019. It was shown again in 2023 in Taichung at Galerie Pierre (exhibition "The Collaboration Ground" curated by Eric Chen) and in Za Koenji Theatre, Tokyo, Japan (exhibition "Do Corals Dream of Mountain").

Since then, I pursued the audio documentation and survey of the coral reefs in Penghu, witnessing the climate changes that let them to bleaching and dying in 2020-2023.

While the perspective of this project dramatically changed, the work is still in progress...

More information about Penghu Experimental Sound Studio can be found at www.kalerne.net

-- Y.D. 29.10.2023

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2017 : "咾​咕​厝 l​ó​​​-​​​k​ó​͘​​​-​​​chhù", 12" vinyl record

PENGHU EXPERIMENTAL SOUND STUDIO #2

ló-kó͘-chhù 一 means, in Taiwanese, Coral House

Yannick Dauby returns to Discrepant for Vol2 of his ongoing study of the sounds and sights on the Penghu Archipelago, Taiwan. Penghu Experimental Sound Studio Vol2 uses interviews, field recordings, found objects and subtle electronic manipulation to transpose Yannick's impressions of the island's natural beauty.

All sounds, field recordings and improvisations on electronic instruments, are from Penghu, Taiwan. Interviews of children extracted from the film "Childhood of an Archipelago 離島的離島", by Yannick Dauby 澎葉生 & Wan-Shuen Tsai 蔡宛璇. The second session of Penghu Experimental Sound Studio was located in Husi village, during Summer and Autumn 2015 whilst the album was assembled in the hills of Taipei, during the Spring 2016

~~~

Side A

A great stretch of sea with no rubbish. Oh, and sandy beach, and some marine animals.

Most of the people here catch fish. It is close to the sea here, there are lots of fields. It’s also… quieter. When you go down in the water, it feels really chilly. Very fresh, then very comfortable. When I go to the seashore, I can find black sea cucumbers and sea urchins. I saw a swimming sea slug once. It was red and had white stripes. The volcano erupts, then the lava keeps piling up. Then the lava cools down, and it becomes an island. Then people start living there. After that, more people keep moving here. Some people will also move to Taiwan. That is it. Side B On an island far, far away. And in fact, an island of an island. It’s so close to the sea there, so every evening we have fish to eat. My dad often goes at sea for fishing. During the summer he catches squids and during Winter he catches fish for us to eat. Going out at sea is really exhausting, because the sea is always swaying, so you feel really dizzy. Every time we go, I feel really sleepy. You get woken at night, at dawn, or around five in the morning, to go help drain the boat. Then you go fishing and you have to change spots every day. So my dad spends a lot of money on fuel every day, to go fishing at different spots. Sometimes, he goes to Cimei Island, or sometimes he goes to Huayu Island. Occasionally, he goes into the open waters. If my dad is in open waters then I don’t call him. But if he’s not in open waters, on the coasts of Penghu, then I’ll phone to ask dad, how much fish did he caught today, and if he had already eaten. When my dad enters the harbour, my mom would go to the pier to wait for him, and help him carry the fish. With smaller fishes, she would tell him to sell them in Magong city. Sometimes, my aunt takes a pushcart into the village, to see who wants to buy fish. I’ll help by asking: “How many fishes do you want ?” If the buyer wants three fishes, I’ll give him three fishes. I also ask him: “Do you want big or medium-sized ones.” If he wants big ones, I’ll give him three big ones. Each time, my father makes a lot of money. That’s why I have money to go to school, and to pay the lunch fees. Grandma is growing vegetables. We have a piece of farmland next to our house. My grandma is a bit stiff, so if she needs to bend over to scoop up water, I help her do that. Sometimes, I help her with the watering. There is corn, shallots, as well as some cabbages. ~~~ 

credits

released February 3, 2018

Released as 12" LP 45RPM by DISCREPANT (UK) Mastered and cut at Dubplates @ Mastering by Rashad Becker Release date 31st March 2017

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2017 : "Ronde Cosmique", video

Image (Onchidium verruculatum) & Sound (Ciat-Lonbarde Cocoquantus) by Yannick Dauby. Penghu Experimental Sound Studio 2017.

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2017 : Penghu Underwater Sound Archive

Another stay in Penghu archipelago, another temporary electroacoustic studio, and more important, a new methodology for recording sounds underwater.

After discussions with biologists friends, such as Yi-Lin LU from Penghu Marine Biology Research Center, it was obvious that only going physically into the reef could give access to acoustic communication of marine animals. Boats and even kayak can't stand steady near a reef, and don't allow to identify sounds through visual identification of present species. After experimenting with tidal pools recording, the next simple process was : audio digital recorder in waterproof box, hydrophone being hand held, wandering in the reef, then later a comparison between sounds and photos. Thanks to Harry Lin, a bioacoustician working at that time at Academia Sinica, during that time were also done the first recordings using autonomous system.

All this process of experimentation is detailed in following posts.

During this stay in 2017 was the start of a long-term project for constituting a sound archive of the coral reefs in Penghu.

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2016 : "Childhood of an Archipelago", documentary film

Childhood of an Archipelago by Wan-Shuen Tsai & Yannick Dauby Digital video, 16/9, 2016 Duration: 17:11 Created for the 20th Biennale of Sydney (2016) A film about the remote islands of Penghu archipelago, Taiwan, from the point of view of the children in the remaining elementary schools, between 8 and 11 years old. With the participation of the schools in the islands: Jibei, Niaoyu, Hujing, Wangan, Jiangjun, Qimei.

Thanks: Penghu's Ocean Citizens Foundation 海洋公民基金會 and Maco Wu, Guo- Xiong Hong, the teachers and directors of the schools.

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2015 : educational project in the remote islands

In collaboration with Ocean Citizens of Penghu foundation (海洋公民基金會), a series of art and sound classes for the elementary schools in the remote islands of Penghu : Jibei, Niaoyu, Hujing, Wangan, Jiangjun and Qimei. Welcomed and accompanied by teachers and directors of those schools, which sometimes only hosts a very little number of children, it was a precious opportunity to share environmental sounds from Penghu to the students. Each time a class was visited, a few kids were invited to share their experience about their rural lifestyle, family stories or their point of views on their immediate living environment and expectations. A workshop was also held in Jibei, inviting kids to build some acoustic toys using recycled material collect on the shores.

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2015 : "Tsi̍t Lâu Tsuí 一流水", 12" vinyl record

Tsi̍t Lâu Tsuí 一流水 means, in Taiwanese, a cycle of tide. It is also the title of the first publication related to Penghu Experimental Sound Studio. The electroacoustic music composition was entirely made of field recordings and improvisations, gathered during the stays in Penghu. Surreal collages, the two sides of the record published by Discrepant (UK) propose a very special audio experience of the islands.

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2013 : "Foraminifera", video

Foraminifera are minuscule single-cell organisms that produce such hard shells that they may attract the attention of geologists. They mostly live on the seafloor, but on the beaches their star-shaped or disc-shaped dead bodies are often taken as grains of sand. The images in this video were produced by a bargainous digital microscope, hence the dramatically low frame rate.

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2013, Summer : first recordings and educational projects

Thanks to the Ocean Citizens of Penghu foundation (海洋公民基金會 www.iocean.org.tw), Yannick Dauby & Wan-Shuen Tsai exchanged a four-month stay in Shili for a series of educational activities in the schools of the main islands of Penghu. During the class, children could listen to field recordings related to marine environment, and especially some first experiment with underwater recording. During these four months, a temporary electroacoustic music was setup in Shili, and first discussion with biologist from Penghu Marine Biology Research Center (農業部水產試驗所澎湖漁業生物研究中心) led to further experimentations. The first sonic experiments during that stay were based on recordings in tidal pools, successfully record movements of crustaceans, occasional snapping shrimps, gasteropods feeding on algae, and photosynthesis of aquatic plants. Also discovered that Penghu was an ideal place for recording distant shortwave radio emissions.

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2009 : "Villages, Vestige", book+cd

Following the art residency at Le CoLLombier, publication of a book-CD related to abandoned houses and traces of habitat in Auvergne (France) and Penghu (Taiwan). The CD contains the recording of wind in Penghu during the winter time. https://kalerne.bandcamp.com/album/penghu-winter-2008