Extendable Ears (2019-2020)
While temporarily living with friends, Sheng-Wen Lo realised that ‘sound’ is subjective; what one hears as music, the other experiences as torture. Moreover, the perception of sound is species-dependent: dogs, cats, bats and insects, for example, hear ultrasonic sounds that are out of human range. That’s not to say that we don’t produce such sounds. We use devices, tools and vehicles whose manufacturers only mention the ‘audible’ frequency range. Lo wondered: do I inadvertently produce ultrasonic sounds that irritate other species? To find out, in 2019 he wore a device that converts ultrasound into audible range for a continuous month to see if it would drive him crazy, two weeks in Taiwan, two weeks in the Netherlands. This led to surprising results. For one thing, he had bizarre dreams. Lo presents his findings in 360° photographs, videos and photographic scans of the dream diaries he kept.
Sheng-Wen Lo uses still and moving images, sound and occasionally video games in his work. Since early childhood he has been fascinated by the relationship between animals and people, believing they reflect the values, attitudes and collective memories humans have in relation to their environment. In previous works, he presented animals from a human point of view, as a product or attraction. This time he focuses on how animals experience humans in day-to-day life. As the laboratory rat in his own experiment, he seeks to stimulate a debate about our relationship to animals.
installation
made possible in part by the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam
–> Next Nature
