Other. Absence and Making Public: Florence To
25 September - 7 November
Launch Event: Fri 25 November
6 - 8pm
Free & Open to All
Co-presented by Bloc Projects & Platform Asia
Image courtesy of Florence To
Other. Absence and Making Public brings together sound, moving image and research work by Florence To that explores how perception is shaped by vibration, frequency and the environments we move through. Influenced by the avian syrinx, the vocal organ through which birds produce sound, the programme extends the artist’s longstanding interest in vocalisation: what began as an interest in how sound is produced through contact with air and material has developed into a wider enquiry into movement and perception.
Recent fieldwork in Palestine follows the movement of vultures through changing atmospheric conditions, alongside conservation practices and the technologies used to track them. These movements take place within airspace and landscapes also shaped by systems of surveillance, monitoring and territorial control.
Traversing field observation, recordings and gathered material, the work considers what technical systems can detect and make visible, what they overlook, and how human and more-than-human lives encounter the same environments differently. Across the gallery, sculptures, moving images and field recordings draw attention to what can be heard, sensed and recorded, what becomes publicly visible, and what remains absent.
As part of the exhibition, TYRYX is also presented as a live performance, in which synthesised control signals activate sculptures made from recycled wood and metal strings, bringing questions of vibration, sensing and environmental relations into a more immediate physical encounter.
Florence To is an artist, researcher and director of Hong Kong diasporic heritage, creating acoustic scenographies and audiovisual installations with an emphasis on architectural spatial design. They specialised in textiles and tailoring for five years before combining their skills with digital and computational technologies to create installations in abandoned and disused spaces, utilising their defects. They have established residencies and commissions with the Berliner Festspiele, STRP Eindhoven, Mass MoCA in Massachusetts, EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center) in New York and The Spatialization and Auditory Display Environment [SpADE] in Limerick. Florence’s creative endeavours are founded on the significance of listening as a valuable tool for aligning with and establishing deeper connections with the worlds we occupy, particularly during a period of ecological upheaval.
Platform Asia develops opportunities for Asian artists by presenting, discussing and creating works, while promoting Asian artists’ work to audiences. Calling the UK as our home, we connect professionals and audiences who are interested in and new to Asian art and culture via a developing UK-Asia network, and by showing work that inspires and builds appreciation of contemporary Asian art.