YIJU: Songs of Dislocation

yiju (移居) | to migrate

2004-11-24T20:53:00.012-05:00

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In 1938, my grandparents fled China. They landed in the Mindanao Mountains of the Philippines where my father was born in 1941. In the late 1960s, my father emigrated to the United States.

YIJU: Songs of Dislocation is a multimedia environment with audio from eight speakers and video within four sculptures. Filmmaker Chishan Lin and media installation artist John D. Pai provide footage of my grandfather, China, and beyond. Landscape architect Lorraine Pai shapes a night-garden from electronic projections and wire mesh.

In this space between dreams and death, my collaborators and I invite you to linger. Our combined, imagined memories spin out airplane windows, run through generations, and expose desires. We connect to migrants and travelers who similarly search family stories for places to settle.

Spend awhile here before your feet once again meet earth; the place where migration begins.

Byron Au Yong

crew

2004-11-24T20:38:00.002-05:00

Composer BYRON AU YONG (歐陽良仁) crosses cultural and aesthetic boundaries with dramatic works that mix folk and avant-garde music. He holds an MFA in musical theatre writing from New York University, an MA in dance studies from UCLA, and a BA/BM from the University of Washington. From 2000-2002, he was a collaborative artist in the Ford Foundation's International Artists Program.

Filmmaker CHISHAN LIN combines her talents as a writer and dancer with her travels throughout the world. Her award-winning film Through Passing has been shown at over two dozen festivals including the Torino Festival in Italy, the Dresden Festival in Germany, and the Boston International Film Festival. She received a bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley and is completing a Master of Fine Arts in film directing at UCLA. She has received the Jacob J. Javits Fellowship and the Institute of American Cultures Grant. Chishan is currently in Brazil working on a film about homeless children.

Winner of the International Examiner's Community Voice Award, JOHN D. PAI creates documentary and experimental films. His work can be seen in Inter*Im's Bruce Lee Exhibition, the Wing Luke Asian Museum, and festivals around the world. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, where he started as a visual artist and photographer. Initially working with singular images, John gravitated towards pixilated films. As a media installation artist, John mixes images in non-conventional and non-linear ways at venues that include On the Boards, the Northwest Asian American Theatre, and RiverGrass Dance Theatre in Malaysia. From 1998-2000, John was a collaborative artist in the Ford Foundation's International Artists Program.

LORRAINE PAI has contributed to environmental design projects throughout the United States and abroad for children's museums, parks, schools, and zoos. She received a bachelor's degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Washington and is currently Senior Associate at Cascade Design Collaborative in Seattle. For YIJU, Lorraine created an indoor garden of sculptures handmade from industrial materials that surprisingly evoke a comforting yet sometimes disruptive nostalgia.

news

2004-11-24T20:02:00.000-05:00

June 21, 2006

Today marks the one year commemoration of my grandfather's passing. Next week, I will travel with my grandmother, father, two uncles, and an aunt to Xiamen. This will be my first time in China.

July 03, 2005

Au Yong Shu (1904-2005)
My grandfather passed away on June 21st, the final day of school in Seattle. Now the students are on break and my grandfather, a teacher, can have time to get to where he needs to go. This morning, my family set up an altar in the living room. My 97-year-old grandmother burns incense for him every morning and tries not to feel alone. They were married for 77 years.

January 04, 2005

Neil Schindler names YIJU a Seattle Weekly Pick.

December 16-31, 2004

Surround sound and darkness envelop you. There's whispering, a soft murmur, the filling in of sounds, until the crescendo and a moment of silence followed by cymbals, string instruments, voice another crescendo and again silence. Ongoing repetition and yet each time something totally different. Small sounds of paper being crushed, a cappella voices and sighs followed by orchestrated percussion instruments.

After wandering around and around for what could be half a mile, or reclining, after having become part of the installation, you're mesmerized by the "real life" you recognize in the work on video and the projected "ghosts" fainter and fainter after each repetition. Until ultimately there's no memory, only a longing to see and hear what's really there.

From Judith Van Praag's review "Entering into a New Dimension" in the Entertainment Section of the International Examiner.

December 22-28, 2004

...a study of memory and heritage... the wisps of images have the same fleeting quality of vague childhood memories.

From Andrew Engelson's Seattle Weekly calendar listing.

December 16-22, 2004

Shrouded in black, composer Byron Au Yong's YIJU: Songs of Dislocation is an orrery of memory, an attempt to chart the composer's recollections and speculations about his musician grandfather who emigrated from China in the 1930s. What kind of music might they have made together?

From Christopher DeLaurenti's comments in The Stranger

December 11, 2004

Guided gently by what you see and feel, let your imagination wander and wrap yourself in a warm, comforting blanket of memory and reflection.

From Pat Tanumihardja's article in the Northwest Asian Weekly.

(Note: Field recordings were not used in YIJU, my mom's name is spelled Schaffner and my grandparents fled China before the Cultural Revolution.)

. press release .

"Songs of Dislocation" Finds a Home at Jack Straw
Multimedia installation explores a family's forced migration from China

(SEATTLE, WA) YIJU: Songs of Dislocation reveals composer and performer Byron Au Yong's personal connection with migration. This new multimedia installation runs from November 5 to December 31, 2004, and is part of Jack Straw Productions' New Media Gallery Residency Program.

Throughout the collaborative installation, Au Yong's music rides the space between dreams and death. With contributions from filmmaker Chishan Lin, media installation artist and photographer John D. Pai, and landscape architect Lorraine Pai, YIJU: Songs of Dislocation transforms the Jack Straw New Media Gallery into an audio/visual sanctum that encourages visitors to reflect on the consequences of forced migration.

"My grandparents fled China in the late 1930s. My grandfather was a musician and teacher. It is with regret that I never learned music from him. In this work I delve into my broken lineage and compose fractured songs to honor my family history," said Au Yong.

YIJU: SONGS OF DISLOCATION

November 5 to December 31, 2004
Jack Straw New Media Gallery
4261 Roosevelt Way NE
Seattle Washington

Jack Straw Productions is a non-profit audio arts organization. The New Media Gallery Residency Program offers established and emerging artists the opportunity to create and present experimental work that utilizes sound.

Major Funders for the Jack Straw New Media Gallery include the Paul G. Allen Charitable Foundation, ArtsFund, the Mayor's Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, the 4Culture King County Lodging Tax, the Washington State Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

info

2004-11-24T01:08:00.001-05:00

YIJU is a site-specific work suitable for galleries, museums, and other secure public spaces. The multimedia environment of audio, video, and sculptures, are installed by composer Byron Au Yong, media artist John D. Pai, and landscape architect Lorraine Pai in consulation with venue staff after viewing the proposed exhibition area. All are excited to engage the public with programs related to the installation. YIJU was created as part of Jack Straw Productions' New Media Gallery Residency Program.

technical requirements
Audio: Eight Channels/Speakers, minimum four speakers
Video: Four LCD Projectors, Four DVD Players
Space: Minimum 20' x 20' x 16', ideally larger

production expenses
Artist, travel, and material fees.

credits

2004-11-24T01:01:00.000-05:00

Many people helped make YIJU. To participate go to info.

Byron Au Yong, music
Lorraine Pai, environment
John D. Pai, media installation
Chishan Lin and John D. Pai, film and video
Yoko Murao, calligraphy
Steve Ditore, audio engineering
Aaron Jafferis and Frederick Sauter, lyrics

. musicians .
Karen Akada, voice, chopsticks
Byron Au Yong, voice, er-hu, gongs, paper, cymbals, fabric
Marc Collins, water gong, string bass
Marc delaCruz, voice, chopsticks
Jessika Kenney, voice, cymbals, fabric
Gina Sala and Aiko Shimada, voice
James Whetzel, voice, gong, paper

. special thanks .
Au Yong Family, Van Diep, Heather Dwyer, Grey Filastine, David Gere, Doug Haire, Kevin Higa, Jay Koh, Michelle Kumata, Jack Straw Productions, Frank Jones and Laura Shapiro, Russell Leong, Steve Peters, Frank Minoru Phillips, Joan Rabinowitz, Marta Savigliano, Fred and Nelly Schaffner, and Peter Sellars

In addition, we acknowledge the technology workers, including the migrant laborers from India, China, the Philippines and other countries, who have contributed to the hardware and software that enable us to travel through cyberspace and upload information using Blogger.com.

listen

2004-11-20T15:13:00.000-05:00

Daughter
Gina Sala and Aiko Shimada (voice)
Byron Au Yong (water gong, er-hu)
Marc Collins (water gong, bass)

duration 3:50 | play in a new window

Caravan
Byron Au Yong (er-hu)
Jessika Kenney and James Whetzel (percussion)

duration 2:19 | play in a new window

Two Knives
Byron Au Yong (Fujianese narrative)
Karen Akada, Marc delaCruz, James Whetzel (masticating voices)

duration 3:07

Chopsticks, Paper, Breath
Karen Akada, Byron Au Yong, Marc delaCruz, James Whetzel (chopsticks, paper, breath)

duration 1:13

Recorded by Steve Ditore (audio engineer, Jack Straw Productions)