Scent of Thunderbolts (2024)
As installed at 32 Lisgar, as part of the 2024 Toronto Biennial of Art (Toronto, Canada)
6.09 x 7.62 x 11.63 m / 20 x 25 x 38.16 feet
Scent of Thunderbolts is an immersive installation exploring the connections between Cantonese opera and diasporic Chinese communities. This project delves into the concept of diasporic sonic space, home, aural histories, and sonic belonging. Drawing from archival materials and community conversations, and merging the visual and aural, this interactive installation takes form of a Cantonese opera stage, incorporating reimagined elements like props, stage settings, backdrops, furniture, and other components. This installation employs basic props – a table and two chairs, for example – to symbolize a bridge or a mountain, speaking on the absence of the racialized body. Incorporating Cantonese opera recordings from the 1940s and 1950s, along with soundscapes of interior Chinatown spaces, it attempts to document the intangible elements of these sites and examines how diasporic communities shape their own spaces. This project host performances and workshops by Cantonese opera troupes and music clubs from other diasporic communities, fostering cross-cultural conversations and community-building around diasporic musical traditions.
Commissioned by the Toronto Biennial of Art 2024
Photo credits: Morris Lum; Toni Hafkenscheid; Karen Tam
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