Re:SOUNDING

RE:SOUNDING aims to locate, record, digitise, and re-engage with the percussive sounds of the Vietnamese Bronze Age Đông Sơn drum.

Displaced by colonisation and the post-war trade in Southeast Asian antiquities, these drums have the significance of announcing the rain, harvests, fertility, and well-being of local communities as well as instruments of resistance and warfare. Now held in museums and collections throughout the world, this project reimagines how the Đông Sơn drum can conceptually exist beyond the museum display cabinet.

In the hands of contemporary artists and musicians, the digitised drum sample will continue the acoustic voice and cultural impact of these ancient instruments.

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James Nguyen + Victoria Pham

 

MEDIA

 

Check out the variety of media coverage, published responses, reviews, podcast features, and profiles regarding the RE:SOUNDING project.

 

ART GUIDE AUSTRALIA: May 2021

By Giselle Ann Nguyen

 

A REVIEW IN WITNESS PERFORMANCE

‘Weird shit par excellence’: Harriet Cunningham on Rắn Cạp Đuôi’s performance Re:Sounding

28 July, 2020.

 

FCAC RADIO: SEASON 2, EPISODE 1

RE:SOUNDING collaborators James and Victoria talk with FCAC Director Daniel and curator Tamsen about their upcoming RE:SOUNDING physical exhibition as part of CONNECT I, 2021.

 

SATURDAY PAPER PROFILE

Through their new work for BLEED 2020, artists James Nguyen and Victoria Pham reanimate the Đông Sơn drum, an ancient instrument with great cultural significance for their Vietnamese heritage. “We wanted to build a body of knowledge around this instrument in a way that just isn’t possible in academia or museums.”

By Andy Butler.

AUGUST 15 – 21, 2020

 

THE AGE: PROFILE

Digital drum role as ancient instrument breaks out of its glass cage. By Steve Dow

July 12, 2020.

 

THE MUSIC SHOW: ABC RADIO

The Đông Sơn drum and Shirley Collins - continuing the tradition. The Vietnamese Đông Sơn dates back over 2000 years; it’s a gloriously decorated large, bronze drum used to herald rain, a good grain crop and war. But once a utilitarian object it’s now kept under glass and gloves at galleries and museums. Artists James Nguyen and Victoria Pham are now “Resounding” this ancient instrument in an attempt to liberate its sound from behind glass cabinets. We find out how and why some cultural assets can be kept alive while others remain under lock and key. More 'Resounding the Đông Sơn' details here.

With Andrew Ford

 

DRUM MAJORS: for diaCRITICS

RE:SOUNDINGby James Nguyen and Victoria Pham is a collaborative project which aims to locate, record, digitise, and re-engage with the percussive sounds of the Vietnamese Bronze Age Šōng Sõn drum. It debuted at BLEED on 20 July 2020, and two of the reconfigured video works were exhibited by Footscray Community Arts Centre at the start of 2021. RE:SOUNDING is a project which demonstrates how the diaspora can access and imagine the past, and why doing so allows us to build a future which is grounded in our artistic heritage. The following was a profile published in The Saturday Paper about the pair’s work. – Sheila Ngoc Pham, diaCRITICS Contributing Editor.

By Andy Butler. 2020.

 

ARRANGEMENTS

a Feature in RUNNING DOG ART, by Sheila Ngoc Pham

This piece is the third in a five-part series of responses for BLEED—an online biennial festival from Arts House and Campbelltown Arts Centre. This article was written in response to James Nguyen and Victoria Pham’s ‘re:sounding’ (2020), which you can view here.

 

5 QUESTIONS with RE:SOUNDING: LIMINAL MAGAZINE