Ting-Jung Chen

The Taiwanese artist Ting-Jung Chen focuses on the issue of boundaries, bringing attention to the general phenomena of tensions existing between different groups or communities. Auditory histories, and how sound and music participate in shaping societal tensions, for Chen figure as fertile ground for creative exploration. Moreover, history is positioned as a reference within a greater gesture of storytelling the artist presents. These are stories sensitive to the time and space of the present, that acknowledge the movements of history in the making of collective memories which extend across generations, and that figure as currents within what comes to pass as national identification.

This finds expression in a range of works addressing militarism and war, including research into the idealization of certain voices as symbols of nationalism. In “(RPM) Revolutions Per Minute” (2020), for example, the artist sampled 13 victory speeches from leaders from various sovereign states during WWII.

Extending from a focus on recorded speeches, and the ideological tonalities they seek to harness, the artist expresses a pointed interest in sonic warfare operative across nation-states. For example, her installation work “You Are the Only One I Care About (whisper)” (2018) addresses the use of large-scale broadcast walls built on the coast of Taiwan and which directed selected slogans and songs at mainland China.

Furthermore, in her installation “If She Is Not Sitting In The Room” (2021), the artist elaborates her concern with sonic warfare, in this case by appropriating 32 songs performed by female singers considered patriotic or banned in Taiwan between 1932 – 1971.These are complex installations integrating multi-channel speaker systems and the re- appropriation of musical materials, questioning in what ways sound can be utilized to define borders and boundaries.

This finds elaboration, as well as a somewhat more personal rendering, in her work “Dislocated Voice” (2022), an interactive sound installation based on the sonic memories of Kinmen residents who were subjected to the sonic warfare campaign between the Taiwan government and China (1953 – 1992).

With a background in philosophy and a deep involvement in sculpture, sound and spatial environments, Chen’s oeuvre is marked by a fundamental concern for the construction of difference. And importantly, how sound can allow for an exploration and diffusion of boundaries.

Ting-Jung Chen is currently fellow of the DAAD Artists-In-Berlin Program.