Arthur Chen

Tendre
Sound Installation
250cm x 160cm x 300cm 6 reclaimed headphones, 1 microphone
2023
In collaboration w/ Ziyue Zhou & Juliette Hage @Yishu8 Paris, France

‘‘Tendre’’ was chosen as a title for its double entendre in French, a homonymous word for tightening and tender.

’’Derrière le verbe tendre, il y a l’idée d’une droiture, d’une rigidité, d’une raideur. Cette définition m’a presque fait oublier que tendre est aussi un adjectif qui qualifie une personne ou une chose dotée de tendresse. J’évoque un paradoxe parce qu’il me semble que la tendresse est un sentiment mou, elle évoque une certaine forme de ramollissement des émotions que la tension induite dans le verbe tendre balaie d’un revers de main.’’
- Juliette Hage

’’Within the verb ‘‘tendre’’ lies the idea of a certain uprightness, a rigour, a stiffness. This definition almost made me forget ‘‘tendre’’ is also an adjective that refers to a person or an object’s tender quality. I’m raising this paradox because it seems to me as though tenderness is a soft emotion, evoking a certain form of softening of the emotions that is brushed aside by the tight aspect of the verb.’’
- Juliette Hage

Ziyue’s work is intimately tied to the places she works in, using materials often overlooked or originating from the banal,
reaching for other ways to experience her environment.
She questions the ordinary, gestures, the place of objects and her own body in a defined space, sketching out an unsteady landscape, sort of a visual haiku. 

Her choice of leaving the carpet of the gallery as an element to the installation allowed me to use it as a sonic space to set-up an interactive landscape.
A microphone was set up to trigger a soundscape when the ambiance of the environment reached a certain amplitude threshold.
Creating a small ecosystem of harsh sounds moving small objects, I did not only want to explore the relationship between the installation but also the environment’s impact on it.

Bzzz
Sound Installation. 2023.
8cm x 8cm x 150cm. Reclaimed headphone piece, wire, hot glue, plant.