2021 poems

Susan Chen

"Contact"

5/20/2021

Video

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1NBjZ-EGV8HC9-Uf_umiu2h6seX6WoVOk

For my semester project I want to focus on creating a poetic experience through visual and sound. Within this mysterious alleyway that leads to a body of enchanting blue water, there are pathways to other spaces. Asemic sounds travel through these spaces, waiting for the audience to experience them.

Prior to creating this piece I looked up some asemic sound works, especially the Shapes album by Tim Gaze. Many of these sound/noise poetry use human sound and the manipulation of human sound. I feel the use of human sound makes the audience be aware of the human behind all these. So I want to create asemic sound without the human element. I recorded sounds around my home and used those to create a soundscape that goes along with the visuals. When editing, I try to think about how human language sounds and imitate it with edits.

In Asemic (2019), the author Peter Schwenger writes: asemic writing can "communicate this mental texture to us" (181). I hope to generate something interior through my piece. I used familiar sounds to create unfamiliar soundscapes. This goes along with Legacy Russell's words in Glitch Feminism, we "contain multitudes" (19). These unrecognized sounds are a part of me too. I sense a connection with them. Even though the audience won’t have this connection I hope they can let go of their meaning-making sense and be in contact with the world in this piece.