Memory Rifts (2014)
9-channel sound installation: sound, laptop, speakers
Duration: 6:52 min
Installation dimensions variable
"A musical work sited in unexpected and liminal spaces within the museum, Memory Rifts expands the perceptual potential of a single audio composition, while probing how the mind receives, and recalls, acoustic information.
"Comprising of a nonet (musical composition for nine instruments), Memory Rifts departs from the conventions of how such a piece would usually be performed and experienced. Split into single channels that play one instrument each, the composition is broadcast over nine speakers that are spatially dispersed, making it impossible to hear the composition uniformly, or in entirety, in any one location. Rather, it is through the chance and repeated encounters of its melodies and motifs, rhythms and riffs, points and counterpoints that prompt an active – albeit unconscious – act of listening.
"Although the composition is only experienced in parts, the work points to the tendency of the brain to form patterns – be it sonic or visual – and Gestalt psychology’s principle that the mind pieces together disparate perceptual stimuli to generate whole forms. Yet even as the mind organises, memory is also fallible, and the rifts are revealed as an imperfect refrain, looping in the head." (Joyce Toh, Singapore Art Museum)
Press:
"Two of this writer's favourite pieces are perhaps the most unassuming of the lot [...] you would be forgiven for overlooking Mark Wong's Memory Rifts, an installation of speakers scattered all over, each playing a singular instrument from one whole piece you can never hear in its totality. Musical riffs waft in and out, like little earworms, looping in your head." - Mayo Martin, Today, 2 Aug 2014 , online at http://www.todayonline.com/entertainment/arts/arts-reviews/sensorium-360deg-355, retrieved 2 Aug 2014
"Mark Wong’s 'Memory Riffs' [sic] is a fractured, disjointed musical work that seems to emanate from the more obscure corners of the museum, pushing visitors to heighten and sharpen their senses in order to piece the broken composition together." - Darryl Wee, Blouin Artinfo, 11 Aug 2014, online at http://sea.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1049982/sensorium-360deg-at-the-singapore-art-museum, retrieved 13 Aug 2014
"As opposed to a single note of sensation, Mark Wong’s 'Memory Rifts' proffers a technically simpler, yet aesthetically and sensually efficacious experience. By simply dispersing a nine-instrument composition across nine points within the museum, Wong obliges us to physically traverse the space in order to hear parts of a piece of music that cannot be heard as a whole at any one point in space. In other words, audition is keyed to our kinaesthetic, proprioceptive, equilibrioceptive (sense of balance) and—if your balance suffers when lost in music and you fall down the stairs--nociceptive (related to pain) capacities. In truth, it is almost beside the point simply to enumerate the exact senses that become enmeshed with this active sense of audition—of listening, rather than hearing." - Bruce Quek, Randian, 15 Oct 2014, online at http://www.randian-online.com/np_review/the-human-sensorium/, retrieved 7 Nov 2014
"Your mind’s ability to piece together disparate perceived stimuli to generate a synergized whole is tested next: Singaporean Mark Wong deliberately splits a recorded musical score [...] into single channels that play 1 instrument each, and broadcasts each part in a different location at SAM. His 'Memory Rifts' thus offers you chance and repeated encounters to unconsciously hear its melodies and motifs, rhythms and rifts, points and counterpoints. What musical patterns will your mind come to recognize? What synergized refrain will eventually begin to hum in your head?" - Wai Lin Coultas, SingArt, 30 Jul 2014, online at http://singart.com/sensations-beyond-imax/, retrieved 2 Aug 2014
"One exhibition easily overlooked is Mark Wong’s 'Memory Rifts', a 9-channel sound installation located a various unassuming spots within the museum and exhibition. Each spot playing a singular instrument from one whole musical piece the audience will never get to hear in its full totality. This work is like our fading memories, we remember parts and parcel of a memory whether it is a conscious decision to omit and include necessary details. Part serendipity, part analytical, this piece provokes the audience into creating a memorable score intrinsically." - Art in the Little Red Dot, 27 Oct 2014, online at https://artplussixfive.wordpress.com/, retrieved 7 Nov 2014
9-channel sound installation: sound, laptop, speakers
Duration: 6:52 min
Installation dimensions variable
"A musical work sited in unexpected and liminal spaces within the museum, Memory Rifts expands the perceptual potential of a single audio composition, while probing how the mind receives, and recalls, acoustic information.
"Comprising of a nonet (musical composition for nine instruments), Memory Rifts departs from the conventions of how such a piece would usually be performed and experienced. Split into single channels that play one instrument each, the composition is broadcast over nine speakers that are spatially dispersed, making it impossible to hear the composition uniformly, or in entirety, in any one location. Rather, it is through the chance and repeated encounters of its melodies and motifs, rhythms and riffs, points and counterpoints that prompt an active – albeit unconscious – act of listening.
"Although the composition is only experienced in parts, the work points to the tendency of the brain to form patterns – be it sonic or visual – and Gestalt psychology’s principle that the mind pieces together disparate perceptual stimuli to generate whole forms. Yet even as the mind organises, memory is also fallible, and the rifts are revealed as an imperfect refrain, looping in the head." (Joyce Toh, Singapore Art Museum)
Press:
"Two of this writer's favourite pieces are perhaps the most unassuming of the lot [...] you would be forgiven for overlooking Mark Wong's Memory Rifts, an installation of speakers scattered all over, each playing a singular instrument from one whole piece you can never hear in its totality. Musical riffs waft in and out, like little earworms, looping in your head." - Mayo Martin, Today, 2 Aug 2014 , online at http://www.todayonline.com/entertainment/arts/arts-reviews/sensorium-360deg-355, retrieved 2 Aug 2014
"Mark Wong’s 'Memory Riffs' [sic] is a fractured, disjointed musical work that seems to emanate from the more obscure corners of the museum, pushing visitors to heighten and sharpen their senses in order to piece the broken composition together." - Darryl Wee, Blouin Artinfo, 11 Aug 2014, online at http://sea.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/1049982/sensorium-360deg-at-the-singapore-art-museum, retrieved 13 Aug 2014
"As opposed to a single note of sensation, Mark Wong’s 'Memory Rifts' proffers a technically simpler, yet aesthetically and sensually efficacious experience. By simply dispersing a nine-instrument composition across nine points within the museum, Wong obliges us to physically traverse the space in order to hear parts of a piece of music that cannot be heard as a whole at any one point in space. In other words, audition is keyed to our kinaesthetic, proprioceptive, equilibrioceptive (sense of balance) and—if your balance suffers when lost in music and you fall down the stairs--nociceptive (related to pain) capacities. In truth, it is almost beside the point simply to enumerate the exact senses that become enmeshed with this active sense of audition—of listening, rather than hearing." - Bruce Quek, Randian, 15 Oct 2014, online at http://www.randian-online.com/np_review/the-human-sensorium/, retrieved 7 Nov 2014
"Your mind’s ability to piece together disparate perceived stimuli to generate a synergized whole is tested next: Singaporean Mark Wong deliberately splits a recorded musical score [...] into single channels that play 1 instrument each, and broadcasts each part in a different location at SAM. His 'Memory Rifts' thus offers you chance and repeated encounters to unconsciously hear its melodies and motifs, rhythms and rifts, points and counterpoints. What musical patterns will your mind come to recognize? What synergized refrain will eventually begin to hum in your head?" - Wai Lin Coultas, SingArt, 30 Jul 2014, online at http://singart.com/sensations-beyond-imax/, retrieved 2 Aug 2014
"One exhibition easily overlooked is Mark Wong’s 'Memory Rifts', a 9-channel sound installation located a various unassuming spots within the museum and exhibition. Each spot playing a singular instrument from one whole musical piece the audience will never get to hear in its full totality. This work is like our fading memories, we remember parts and parcel of a memory whether it is a conscious decision to omit and include necessary details. Part serendipity, part analytical, this piece provokes the audience into creating a memorable score intrinsically." - Art in the Little Red Dot, 27 Oct 2014, online at https://artplussixfive.wordpress.com/, retrieved 7 Nov 2014