Taiwan and France Jointly Creates a Sound Art Incubation Platform
With the objective of effectively facilitating interactions between Taiwanese sound artists and the international community, the Taiwan Contemporary Culture Lab (C-LAB) is organizing the “2019 CREATORS International Exchange Program – IRCAM, Centre Pompidou” in collaboration with the Institute for Research and Coordination in Acoustics / Music (IRCAM) which is under the aegis of the Centre Pompidou in France. Professional Taiwanese sound artists are selected to participate in this transnational collaboration, and the program’s call for entries has attracted the attention of people working in related industries, with submissions received from a total of 43 applicants. The shortlist for the program includes the following six sound artists, whom have been selected after two rounds of evaluation conducted by a panel of experts from both Taiwan and abroad: Wang Chung-Kun, Lin Yi-Cheng, Wu Ping-Sheng, Micky Yang, Liao Hai-Ting, and Cheng I-lly, with plans made for the selectees to visit France in June.
A collaboration agreement was signed by C-LAB and IRCAM in 2018, whereby the two parties agreed to jointly facilitate visits by talents from both sides and to engage in technology-oriented research and development, co-production, and exhibition collaboration. IRCAM will also provide professional consultation for the founding of C-LAB Taiwan Sound Lab. The “2019 CREATORS International Exchange Program – IRCAM, Centre Pompidou” is organized based on the principles of fostering talents and facilitating international interactions, and this year’s transnational jury panel is made up of Taiwanese sound art experts and scholars Wang Fujui, Lin Jinyao, Huang Wen-Hao, Chao Ching-Wen, and Pan Chia-Lin, and also Frank Madlener, director of IRCAM, and Suzanne Berthy, IRCAM’s head of artistic coordination. In addition to evaluating the applicants’ professional experiences, the connections between their proposed projects with this exchange program and also the future development of C-LAB Taiwan Sound Art Lab are also taken into consideration. According to Lin Jinyao, the principle investigator of C-LAB Taiwan Sound Art Lab, rich and vibrant creative energies from the creative talents working in the fields of music, new media art, and sound engineering in Taiwan are noted by the jurors during the evaluation process, and they eagerly look forward to the future collaboration with IRCAM and see this exchange program as a rare and invaluable opportunity.
The focus of this exchange in France is to visit ManiFeste presented by IRCAM, which is a festival that includes exciting interdisciplinary programs of music, theater, dance, digital art, visual art, and technological innovation. The program participants will be able to get in-depth behind-the scene looks at how the festival’s interdisciplinary programs are executed. IRCAM will also arrange for its international interdisciplinary production team to discuss and interact with the diverse-range of sound artists selected for the program, with topics on composing, electronic music, sound design and engineering, new media art, and other professional technical topics explored, which will provide the participants with invaluable creative inspiration and knowledge. C-LAB looks forward to the international collaboration with IRCAM, and through bringing in different professional resources into Taiwan, including international electronic music, sound art research and development, and also training for engineers and technical talents, an incubation platform for sound art creators in Taiwan is to be realized through joint efforts.