47 Days, Sound-less | A version for Hanoi

22.10 - 24.11.2024
11.00 AM - 07.00 PM (Tue - Sun)
Manzi Exhibition Space, 2 ngõ Hàng Bún, Ba Đình, Hà Nội
Free Entrance

Deep in a wild forest, a man was wandering, he was stranded with no recollection or clues about his past.  The village of indigenous people living there took him in… Adopting such an open fictional structure, Trinh Thi’s installation weaves together sound, moving images and texts from various sources, creating a space with more intuitive cues conducive to multi-sensory experiences beyond just seeing / watching/ reading.

The visual elements of ‘47 Days, Sound-less' are derived from existing footage: cutout images of natural landscapes used as backdrops and uncredited local natives used as extras in Hollywood and Vietnamese movies, interspersed with Trinh Thi’s own recordings of the Jarai people from Vietnam’s Central Highlands. These re-constructed, re-contextualized imageries are framed within the textual fragmented narration based on Ursula K. Le Guin's science fiction stories. ‘47 Days, Sound-less’ challenges the conventional idea of visuality and overturns the standard hierarchy in modes of sensing and perceiving, which ultimately determine which reality is present and central. Foregrounding what used to be in the background and the consequent ambiguity—in both what to see & what to know (as the pieced-together visuals are mostly abstract and grainy, while the story structure is loose and unclear with many missing details)—allows for a space to re-attune our senses.

In such a context of departure from a logically-based and visually-oriented norm, the formlessness and invisibility of sound prevail. With the echoing and all-encompassing power, sound shapes a new order, one centered on hearing and listening. Using real sonic materials of nature combined with tunes produced by traditional indigenous musical instruments imitating the sounds of the forest, this installation questions the visual dominance in our modern perception and knowledge construction, as well as provokes reflections on boundaries and ecology, and reveals a non-human-centered perspective.

‘47 Days, Sound-less' also proposes a new method to see and experience the moving image as an installation, a type of ‘expanded cinema’. Utilizing a system of mirrors that reflect the fragments of footage onto diverse directions in space, Trinh Thi explores the idea of peripheries by deliberately disrupting the central line of sight, thus expanding our visual field to what is hidden or out of sight. This attempt does not undermine the power of seeing but highlights the often overlooked limitation and deficit of it. Our sensory abilities are inherently flawed and restricted, whereas the possibilities of existence are indefinite and boundless. 

There always exists ‘the unknown, the invisible and the inaccessible'—an alternate/parallel reality, a more-than-human world.

The work is commissioned by the Han Nefkens Foundation, Mori Art Museum, M+ Hong Kong and Singapore Art Museum