Prosodic Notes

About Book

On November 2, 2024, the "Floating Sounds and Cutting Sounds" exhibition opened on the sixth floor of BY ART MATTERS Tianmuli Art Museum. Using sound as a clue, through different media such as painting, sculpture, interactive installation, performance, video, etc., the synesthesia shows artists from all over the world exploring the different ways people communicate and exchange between language and nature, beyond simple listening and speaking.

After five months, the exhibition closed, and the museum returned to silence. Sound fades with the words we speak, and as the exhibition's echoes fade, we can capture the rhythmic beauty of the world conveyed through text and images, capturing it as a soundscape on paper, without the need for speakers.

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The BY ART MATTERS Tianmuli Art Museum exhibition "Floating Sounds and Cutting Resonances" draws inspiration from Chinese literature's emphasis on natural rhythms and the beauty of balance. Bringing together works by over a dozen artists from various countries and regions, the exhibition explores the origins, flexibility, and limits of interpersonal communication. Language and music, for individuals, carry the fleeting flow of emotions and thoughts; for humanity as a whole, they represent living history and collective memory, residing within all our minds. Embracing this holistic vision, the exhibition connects individual breath with global currents, embarking on a journey of synesthesia, exploring listening, perception, and resonance. In an information age constantly scrambled by disagreements and conflicts, attempting to experience and convey the ineffable beauty of rhythm that transcends time and space may help people rediscover their original desire for communication and consensus.

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The publication "Notes on Sound" emerged from this exhibition, yet it's not solely based on the exhibition's concept; it can be seen as a facet of it. From the outset, we pondered: How should we express an exhibition so stimulating to the senses of hearing through the medium of text and still images? And how could we make the book relatively independent of the exhibition? We realized that the sound of turning pages, the vibrant visuals of the design, and the tactile feel of the paper all reawakened different senses.

During the editing process, we approached the artists with an open question: "If works focusing on sound and language were to be included in a publication, how would they be presented?" Several pieces in the book are original creations of the artists. Another key element was the inclusion of manuscripts, notes, archive materials, and interviews detailing the artists' creative processes . These documents serve as pathways, connecting memories and experiences of the site. "Notes" is both a note and a musical note. The former emphasizes the process, while the latter suggests that the details within the book are like musical notes on the page. The sparks of resonance, collision, and fusion between these details are precisely what we aim to bring to readers through this book. The freedom of these contents even exceeds our editorial control, allowing readers to freely explore them.