Sounds Uncovered is Wu Chang-jung’s latest solo exhibition at Project Fufill Art Space since two years ago. It includes four new artworks originated from her observation and imagination about “sounds in daily life.” Each audio-visual work stems from the experience of listening to and contemplating on life, world economy, the real and the imaginary as well as the intangible and indescribable relationships between people.

Due to the global economic crisis, Wu started working with her family in the pig-raising business a few years ago. Working in the pigsty, she learned that sick pigs needed to be covered and isolated by plastic canvases to ensure they had enough warmth. People could only observe the pigs’ health through the subtle differences in the sounds of breathing and digestion. For the artist, “sounds” became the medium of her imagination and the facts she had at hand to tell the reality. Through accumulation of experience, she learned to extract the truth from sounds. In 2013, she moved to Taipei, where her urban life has since become infused with much more technological sounds comparing to the one she had in the countryside, and has consequently created more audio impact for her in terms of the world and life. The artworks in this exhibition embody Wu’s observations on the “daily sounds” in the urban environment, revealing her creative fantasy connecting the audio and the visual as well as the imaginary and the real.

Sounds Uncovered
Sharing the same title with the exhibition, Sounds Uncovered, stemmed from Wu’s living experience since she moved to Taipei. Looking down from her window, she often finds the narrow streets are blocked and covered up by plastic canvas tents of various colors due to the activities taking place in the neighborhood. In this city jungle, the appearances of these tents often bring unusual audio experiences—ones that provide her much material for imagination even without personal presence. Through imagination and guessing at the meaning of the boisterous sounds beneath the tents, one comes close to know what is happening underneath the plastic canvases. This series presents 3D miniature models of sound installations that are comprised of traditional canvas tents often seen in Taiwan, attempting to uncover the “truth” of sound imagination blocked in this era of media explosion.

On the Road
On the Road is dedicated to the fighters that battle the cruel reality of life every day. This piece uses time-lapse photography to document patients covered with blankets, rehabilitating themselves back to health in school playing-field. Displaying with a speed of thirty images per second, the paces of the patients are combined with the sounds from timers of medical IV, delineating the world economy, imbalance in terms of energy and material, and the helplessness in real life.

Excuse Me
Although bicycles belong to the streets, the dangerous traffic in Taipei is incredibly oppressive and nerve-wrecking, Wu often rides her bicycle onto sidewalks like most of the bikers in Taipei. Passed by other bikers and meandering through pedestrians on the sidewalks, Wu always finds herself saying “excuse me” many times a day. This work captures all the awkward moments on the sidewalks of Taipei City, constituting a type of an urban game that describes the indescribable relationship and understanding between urban dwellers through the sounds created when people encountering and passing by each other.

Lost in Taipei
Having no sense of direction is a trouble in life. In a metropolitan like Taipei, Wu often needs the assistance of GPS in the mobile phone. This series not only demonstrates all the panic, anxiety, lightness, repetitiveness, games and habits when Wu is lost, it also reveals the cityscape in her life. Using the zoom-in function of a DSLR camera, Wu captures the familiarity of the streets and roads in Taipei, and displays the images with the cinematic speed of thirty images per second to create this piece.

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© Wu Chang-jung
courtesy of the artist and Project Fulfill Art Space