05. Workshop: Variations in the Wild:
Experimental Scores & Improvisation
Photos by Open M Art Fair/ Xing Guo.
Special thanks to @abc_artbookinchina
Image rights are credited to the participants.
Special thanks to @abc_artbookinchina
Image rights are credited to the participants.
(Part I)
We began with about one hour of outdoor drifting, walking, listening, and recording sound symbols around Tianmuli in Hangzhou.
We carried with us these guiding questions:
This participatory artistic activity explored sound, symbols, and the natural environment. We entered nature, attuned ourselves to its voices, and brought sight and hearing into dialogue, using the media at hand to depict both the visible and the invisible. Through sound walking, deep listening, sound-symbol recording, experimental score-making, sonic element generation, and improvisation, we collectively created experimental scores and sound works. Together, we reflected on the relationships between sound–symbol–environment–human, as well as the reciprocal interpretive roles of sound and symbol. At the same time, we explored both the expanded possibilities of experimental notation and the materiality of sound.
(Part II)
In Part II, we exchanged works and engaged in collective improvisation—using found objects, environmental sounds, instruments, or our own voices. Following simple rules of listening, reacting, and adapting, we became translators of sound, shaping a living and ever-changing sonic landscape together.
There was no right or wrong: every sound was welcome, every gesture part of the whole. Improvisation became communication through listening, expanding the possibilities of experimental scores and exploring the materiality of sound.
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This workshop was created in collaboration with the abC Art Fair in China, as part of the Hangzhou programme in May 2025. It took place at Tianmuli in Hangzhou and brought together participants, including students, researchers, and artists from across China.
We began with about one hour of outdoor drifting, walking, listening, and recording sound symbols around Tianmuli in Hangzhou.
We carried with us these guiding questions:
-
What did you hear? (Was it the sound of the wind? Birds singing? The rumble of machines? Or the gentle dripping of water?)
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How can you represent it with symbols? (What kinds of lines, shapes, or patterns might capture the texture, rhythm, and intensity of the sound?)
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Can you attempt deep listening? (Close your eyes and, based solely on hearing, record or sketch the materials/sounds you perceived—what form of expression might emerge?)
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If you see yourself as a container or translator, what materials or sonic media would you use to interpret or express these sound symbols? (Would it be lightly tapping a stone, blowing through an instrument or a leaf, or using your own body to produce sound?)
This participatory artistic activity explored sound, symbols, and the natural environment. We entered nature, attuned ourselves to its voices, and brought sight and hearing into dialogue, using the media at hand to depict both the visible and the invisible. Through sound walking, deep listening, sound-symbol recording, experimental score-making, sonic element generation, and improvisation, we collectively created experimental scores and sound works. Together, we reflected on the relationships between sound–symbol–environment–human, as well as the reciprocal interpretive roles of sound and symbol. At the same time, we explored both the expanded possibilities of experimental notation and the materiality of sound.
(Part II)
In Part II, we exchanged works and engaged in collective improvisation—using found objects, environmental sounds, instruments, or our own voices. Following simple rules of listening, reacting, and adapting, we became translators of sound, shaping a living and ever-changing sonic landscape together.
There was no right or wrong: every sound was welcome, every gesture part of the whole. Improvisation became communication through listening, expanding the possibilities of experimental scores and exploring the materiality of sound.
------
This workshop was created in collaboration with the abC Art Fair in China, as part of the Hangzhou programme in May 2025. It took place at Tianmuli in Hangzhou and brought together participants, including students, researchers, and artists from across China.
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