Meridian: Recurrent but not Repetitive
text: Anita Pan
Lunar Dial and Meridian
Sound project “Meridian” derives from Gao Yuan’s animated short film Lunar Dial. It is to explore the inner logic between different sounds as well as the inner logic between sounds, the environment and human beings, starting with the sounds that are used in the soundtrack of Lunar Dial. The forthcoming performance at Capsule Shanghai is a vital part of this project. It centres on two bicycles which will be played as instruments for sound sampling and improvising, in order to create an atmosphere of a human wandering in the city, and to spark the audience’s imagination.
In the winter of 2015, I began working on Lunar Dial’s soundtrack. This was the first time that I did sound design and music for a video artwork and it took me over a year to get to the final version. All of the sounds were recorded from everyday life; some were from recordings I had made over the years out of my own interest, which I was pleasantly surprised by, but the majority were recorded specifically for the film. As for the music, I created it through improvisation while watching the rough cut of Lunar Dial, then recorded it anew with more suitable means. Electronic musician and music producer, thruoutin, mastered the soundtrack of Lunar Dial. “Meridian” will be performed by myself in collaboration with thruoutin.
The soundtrack of Lunar Dial was kept minimal, and only emerges when necessary. Gao Yuan and I hoped from the beginning that the soundtrack would not sound too industrial or smooth, so in order to make it more consistent with the character of Lunar Dial. We were inspired by the sound design of films such as Stalker, The Red Desert and Weekend: sounds from site-specific spaces, dramatic sounds, sounds that are surreal… And finally, the soundtrack of Lunar Dial turned out to be not only the link between surreal and real, but also an eraser of the boundary between the two. Sounds and images that are synchronous may at times appear divergent in terms of realism, and yet have a better chance to approach inner realism, which is unmeasurable.
Like a sun dial, a lunar dial is a tool to display time, except it uses the moonlight to do so. It records the shadow that time sheds upon a plane. It is designed to compensate for the inaccuracy of the moonlight and the blurriness of its shadow. It is visible and real. It demonstrates time, visually. A meridian is a hypothetical circle running through the equator that connects the north and south poles. It is an imagined auxiliary tool for humans to measure time and to mark time differences between specific places. It is invisible and does not actually exist. It speaks about time, verbally. In terms of “reality/imagination”, “time/space”, “accuracy/blurriness”, “vision/language”, a lunar dial and a meridian correspond to each other, but also stretch in independent directions.
In the winter of 2015, I began working on Lunar Dial’s soundtrack. This was the first time that I did sound design and music for a video artwork and it took me over a year to get to the final version. All of the sounds were recorded from everyday life; some were from recordings I had made over the years out of my own interest, which I was pleasantly surprised by, but the majority were recorded specifically for the film. As for the music, I created it through improvisation while watching the rough cut of Lunar Dial, then recorded it anew with more suitable means. Electronic musician and music producer, thruoutin, mastered the soundtrack of Lunar Dial. “Meridian” will be performed by myself in collaboration with thruoutin.
The soundtrack of Lunar Dial was kept minimal, and only emerges when necessary. Gao Yuan and I hoped from the beginning that the soundtrack would not sound too industrial or smooth, so in order to make it more consistent with the character of Lunar Dial. We were inspired by the sound design of films such as Stalker, The Red Desert and Weekend: sounds from site-specific spaces, dramatic sounds, sounds that are surreal… And finally, the soundtrack of Lunar Dial turned out to be not only the link between surreal and real, but also an eraser of the boundary between the two. Sounds and images that are synchronous may at times appear divergent in terms of realism, and yet have a better chance to approach inner realism, which is unmeasurable.
Like a sun dial, a lunar dial is a tool to display time, except it uses the moonlight to do so. It records the shadow that time sheds upon a plane. It is designed to compensate for the inaccuracy of the moonlight and the blurriness of its shadow. It is visible and real. It demonstrates time, visually. A meridian is a hypothetical circle running through the equator that connects the north and south poles. It is an imagined auxiliary tool for humans to measure time and to mark time differences between specific places. It is invisible and does not actually exist. It speaks about time, verbally. In terms of “reality/imagination”, “time/space”, “accuracy/blurriness”, “vision/language”, a lunar dial and a meridian correspond to each other, but also stretch in independent directions.
Sounds as Speaking Images
When introducing the concept of “ekphrasis” in his Picture Theory, W. J. T. Mitchell mentioned a radio program that was once popular in the 20th century United States: “Bob and Ray”. The two presenters, Bob and Ray, often shared in their program something that is rarely seen in an audio experience: photographs. The shared photographs were invisible to the audiences, and yet the presenters seemed to intentionally ignore the presence (or absence) of the audiences. One of them would display the photos, the other would make some comments. Sometimes they would abruptly jump out and say to the audience, “I sure wish you folks out there in radioland could see these pictures” or “I’m sure glad you folks could look at these pictures with us today”. The absence of the biological eye causes an anxiety of not seeing, whereas the mind’s eye offers the hope of seeing. But more possibly, it is the fear of “actually seeing” that the mind’s eye eases, and to meet the desire for “keeping the images unseen” is the reason that the biological eye is absent. What is not seen can be envisioned. While seeing is a traceable experience, envisioning is able to enlarge and reinforce the experience of seeing. Because we already have the experience of vision, when sound is dancing solo, the tension of our unfolding imagination can be both audio and visual.
Project “Meridian” separates the sounds from the moving images on the screen, which they originally correspond with, and experiments with montages on these sounds alone. Before we are able to see and after we stop seeing, what could we envision by listening? This is the core issue that project “Meridian” intends to explore.
Project “Meridian” separates the sounds from the moving images on the screen, which they originally correspond with, and experiments with montages on these sounds alone. Before we are able to see and after we stop seeing, what could we envision by listening? This is the core issue that project “Meridian” intends to explore.
Wheeling, Breathing, Wandering
In Lunar Dial, there are two important threads that connect all of the recurrent elements: emotion and motion. I like to divide the word “emotion” into “e-motion”. After all, emotion is a kind of motion too, with its ups and downs.
The state of recurrence is manifest in many movements: the turning of wheels, the swaying of limbs, breaths, pulses, the waves, seesaws, repetitive work… Correspondingly, there is a typical image in the modern city: the wanderer in the street. Recurrent movements maintain a stability that keeps things in control, whereas wandering has a more arbitrary character, in which the wanderer occasionally escapes his or her routine roles. Inevitably, the wanderer must spend some undefinable, void time between one business and another, retreating from the roles he or she plays and watching the cityscape, while his or her mind is floating about.
It is exactly this atmosphere of wandering in the city that we try to portray in the upcoming performance. The bicycles play a central role, either as a vehicle for the wanderer to move with or as the background colour of the cityscape that the wanderer sees. On top of this, sounds will flow in and fade out, and the audiences’ imaginations may wander, based on their lives’ memories and experiences, and the moving images they have seen on the screen.
The state of recurrence is manifest in many movements: the turning of wheels, the swaying of limbs, breaths, pulses, the waves, seesaws, repetitive work… Correspondingly, there is a typical image in the modern city: the wanderer in the street. Recurrent movements maintain a stability that keeps things in control, whereas wandering has a more arbitrary character, in which the wanderer occasionally escapes his or her routine roles. Inevitably, the wanderer must spend some undefinable, void time between one business and another, retreating from the roles he or she plays and watching the cityscape, while his or her mind is floating about.
It is exactly this atmosphere of wandering in the city that we try to portray in the upcoming performance. The bicycles play a central role, either as a vehicle for the wanderer to move with or as the background colour of the cityscape that the wanderer sees. On top of this, sounds will flow in and fade out, and the audiences’ imaginations may wander, based on their lives’ memories and experiences, and the moving images they have seen on the screen.
子午线：往复不循环
文：Anita Pan
月晷与子午线
声音项目“子午线”衍生自高源的动画短片《月晷》，由《月晷》声音制作中用到的采样发散，探索声音元素彼此之间以及和环境、人之间的内在逻辑。此次在胶囊上海的演出是这个项目的重要部分。演出将以两辆自行车作为现场采样和发声的乐器，塑造人在城市空间游荡的氛围，用声音推动人的想象。
2015年冬，我进入《月晷》声音部分的创作。这是我首次尝试为影像做声音设计和配乐，历时一年多。声音取材自日常录音，有些是数年间作为兴趣随手录下的，其中发现了不少惊喜，大部分则是为影片专门采样。配乐部分是我看着《月晷》初剪版本、在画面带动下即兴而成的，后续又换了工具重新录制。声音的母带处理由实验电子音乐人和音乐制作人thruoutin完成。本次演出由我和thruoutin合作实现。
《月晷》的声音极尽简化，只在必要时出现。高源和我在最开始就希望，声音部分不是那么的工业化和顺滑，这也和《月晷》的质地更相一致。我们从《潜行者》《红色沙漠》《周末》这些电影的声音设计中汲取灵感：特定空间内的声音，戏剧性的声音，超现实的声音……最终，声音在《月晷》中既是超现实与现实的联结点，同时也不断模糊着两者的界线。同步的声画有时在现实意义上错位，反而更有望接近难以测量的心理真实。
月晷是与日晷类似的显示时间的工具，只是借用的是月光。它记录时间在平面上的投影，它被设计成可以容许月光的误差和月影的模糊，它可见可触真实存在，在视觉上呈现时间。子午线是垂直穿过赤道、连接地球南北两极的虚拟圆环（因古人以“子”为正北“午”为正南而称“子午线”），它是人类为度量方便而假想出来的辅助线，用以标注特定空间之间的时间差，它既不可见也不真实存在，在语言维度讨论时间。在“现实/想象”、“时间/空间”、“确切/模糊”、“视觉/语言”这些层面，月晷和子午线这两样事物既有呼应，又各自独立伸展。
2015年冬，我进入《月晷》声音部分的创作。这是我首次尝试为影像做声音设计和配乐，历时一年多。声音取材自日常录音，有些是数年间作为兴趣随手录下的，其中发现了不少惊喜，大部分则是为影片专门采样。配乐部分是我看着《月晷》初剪版本、在画面带动下即兴而成的，后续又换了工具重新录制。声音的母带处理由实验电子音乐人和音乐制作人thruoutin完成。本次演出由我和thruoutin合作实现。
《月晷》的声音极尽简化，只在必要时出现。高源和我在最开始就希望，声音部分不是那么的工业化和顺滑，这也和《月晷》的质地更相一致。我们从《潜行者》《红色沙漠》《周末》这些电影的声音设计中汲取灵感：特定空间内的声音，戏剧性的声音，超现实的声音……最终，声音在《月晷》中既是超现实与现实的联结点，同时也不断模糊着两者的界线。同步的声画有时在现实意义上错位，反而更有望接近难以测量的心理真实。
月晷是与日晷类似的显示时间的工具，只是借用的是月光。它记录时间在平面上的投影，它被设计成可以容许月光的误差和月影的模糊，它可见可触真实存在，在视觉上呈现时间。子午线是垂直穿过赤道、连接地球南北两极的虚拟圆环（因古人以“子”为正北“午”为正南而称“子午线”），它是人类为度量方便而假想出来的辅助线，用以标注特定空间之间的时间差，它既不可见也不真实存在，在语言维度讨论时间。在“现实/想象”、“时间/空间”、“确切/模糊”、“视觉/语言”这些层面，月晷和子午线这两样事物既有呼应，又各自独立伸展。
声作能言画
W·J·T·米歇尔在《图像理论》一书中介绍“艺格敷词”（ekphrasis）概念时提到上世纪中期在美国流行一时的广播节目“Bob and Ray”。主持人Bob和Ray常在节目中和听众分享一样鲜少在广播这种听觉体验中出现的东西：照片。被分享的照片于听众是不可见的，而主持人似乎有意忽略听众的存在（或是缺席），一人展示照片，一人作出评论。有时他们会突然从这种忽略中跳出来，对听众说“我真希望广播那头的你们能看到这些照片”或者“我很高兴你们今天能同我们一起观看这些照片”。肉眼的缺席带来“看不见”的焦虑，而心灵之眼提供了“看得见”的希望。但更有可能的是，心灵之眼解决的反而是对于“实际可见”的恐惧，而肉眼的缺席则反而满足了“将图像维持在不可见状态”的渴望。因为无法看见，所以能够想见，看见的体验有迹可循，而想见则有可能扩大和增强看见的体验。由于我们已经拥有过视觉体验，当声音独自舞蹈时，我们头脑中展开的想象是同时具有听觉和视觉上的张力的。
“子午线”项目将原本与屏幕上的动态画面紧密呼应的声音素材分离出来，仅在声音这个单一维度上进行蒙太奇实验。在我们尚未看见之前，在我们不再看见之后，我们可以借由听见来想见什么？这是“子午线”项目探索的重要问题。
“子午线”项目将原本与屏幕上的动态画面紧密呼应的声音素材分离出来，仅在声音这个单一维度上进行蒙太奇实验。在我们尚未看见之前，在我们不再看见之后，我们可以借由听见来想见什么？这是“子午线”项目探索的重要问题。
轮轴，呼吸，浪游者
在《月晷》中，有两条重要线索将反复出现的各种元素贯穿起来：情绪和运动。我喜欢把英文的“情绪”一词拆解开，因为这样一来便得到“电子的运动”，情绪说到底也是一种运动，高低起伏。
有很多呈现往复状态的运动：车轮转动，肢体摇摆，呼吸，脉搏，海浪，秋千，重复性的工作……与此对应，现代城市中有一种典型的形象：在街头游荡的人。往复运动维持着一种不失控的稳定，浪游则具有随机性，浪游者偶尔出离常规的角色：他不可避免地要在事务与事务之间度过一些无法定义的虚的时间，从角色中退出来，旁观城市的景观，思绪却游动不停。
演出中我们将尝试塑造的就是这样一种城市游荡的氛围。自行车扮演主要角色，它可能是游荡者使用的工具，也可能是他所看到的景观的底色。在此之上，声音漫入、褪出，观众带着对生活经验或是已观看过的影像的记忆，在想象中浪游。
有很多呈现往复状态的运动：车轮转动，肢体摇摆，呼吸，脉搏，海浪，秋千，重复性的工作……与此对应，现代城市中有一种典型的形象：在街头游荡的人。往复运动维持着一种不失控的稳定，浪游则具有随机性，浪游者偶尔出离常规的角色：他不可避免地要在事务与事务之间度过一些无法定义的虚的时间，从角色中退出来，旁观城市的景观，思绪却游动不停。
演出中我们将尝试塑造的就是这样一种城市游荡的氛围。自行车扮演主要角色，它可能是游荡者使用的工具，也可能是他所看到的景观的底色。在此之上，声音漫入、褪出，观众带着对生活经验或是已观看过的影像的记忆，在想象中浪游。