INFO PROGRAM SPECIAL EDITION
Prosodic Notes 浮声笔记
18.5 × 26 cm
287 p
Chinese, English
Offset printing, thread-bound
ISBN 978-1-80377-118-2
First published in 2025
Contributors: George Koutsouris, Allora & Calzadilla, Oliver Beer, Christine Sun Kim, Yao Qingmei, Xue Yayuan, Chang Yuchen, Ryan Gander, Su Xiangpan, Guo Tiantian, Layla Vardo, Jonathas de Andrade, Shen Xin, Yang Chi-Chuan, Angelica Mesiti, Natalie Bookchin
Editors: Michael Guo, Sun Man
Designer: maf-works.com
USD$40
*若地址在中国地区，请用中文填写
The exhibition Prosodic Grains at BY ART MATTERS (天目里美术馆) draws inspiration from Chinese literature's pursuit of natural law and balanced beauty in phonology. It features works from over a dozen artists across different countries and regions, exploring the origins, elasticity, and limitations of human communication. For individuals, language and music carry fleeting emotions and thoughts; for human communities, they embody living histories and shared memories that reside in our collective consciousness. Embracing this holistic vision, the exhibition weaves individual breaths into the tapestry of global currents, embarking on a journey that awakens synesthetic sensations and delves into the realms of listening, perception, and resonance. In this information age, where attention fragments amidst discord and conflict, perhaps by experiencing and conveying the ineffable rhythmic beauty that transcends time and space, we can guide people back to their primal yearning for connection and mutual understanding.
The publication Prosodic Notes emerges from the exhibition but isn't strictly bound by its concepts—it can be viewed as an alternative aspect of the exhibition. We have constantly asked ourselves since the very beginning of this project: How should we represent an exhibition so deeply engaged with auditory experience through text and still images? How can the publication maintain independence from the exhibition? However, we realized that the rustling of turning pages, the dynamic visual design elements, and the tactile sensation of paper are also meant to reactivate our senses.
As we shaped this publication, we maintained an open dialogue with artists around the question: "How can works that pulse with sound and language find new life within the bounds of pages?" Some content consists of the original creations by artists. Another thread weaves in the artists' journeys toward their final works, including sketches, notes, archives, and interviews. These elements serve as passageways connecting living memories and experiences of the exhibition. "Notes" carries dual meaning—both written observations and musical notation. The former emphasizes process, while the latter suggests that even the minutiae within the book are like musical notes on paper. The harmonies, collisions, and fusions they create are precisely what we hope to echo with the readers. These contents flow freely, transcending editorial boundaries, inviting readers to drift upon their currents and discover their own interpretations.