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
Sheila Pham and James Nguyen visits the AGNSW to see the two Dong Son drums in their storerooms. We chatted with Matt Cox and Kerry Head around concepts of borders, lived economies, knowledge sharing and knowledge production when working with museums and their public collections.
Image by Sheila Pham