ANIMA SGN | Thuy-Han Nguyen-Chi & Andrew Yong Hoon Lee

What does it mean to be foreign? What does it mean to feel foreign? The significance of migration and immigration lies in language and memory that encompasses the loss of one's native tongue, feelings of alienation and displacement, and a broad spectrum of cultural references and languages. In these two hours, ANIMA SGN #1 presents three artists whose lives and work are shaped by these experiences and form their reflections on the role of the artist.

In this episode, we listen to Thuy-Han Nguyen-Chi’s and Andrew Yong Hoon Lee’s soundtrack from their immersive 10-channel sound installation “The Light Comes in the Name of the Voice” (2024), previously exhibited at Kunsthalle Baden-Baden. Inspired by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha's book Dictée (1982), this sound work unites nine voices across seven exhibition rooms. The sculptural dimension of the installation stems from Thuy-Han’s conversation with a former prisoner of conscience who shared their experience of communicating with other inmates through the subterranean plumbing system. Contributions include speech, singing, and music from nine artists, musicians, authors, and poets, each representing one of the nine Greek muses from Dictée: Clio (history), Calliope (epic), Urania (astronomy), Melpomene (tragedy), Erato (love poems), Euterpe (lyric poetry), Thalia (comedy), Terpsichore (choral), and Polyhymnia (solemn poetry). Contributors include Franziska Aigner, Audrey Chen, Lotus L. Kang, Hanne Lippard, Tanasgol Sabbagh, Fabian Saul, yunhye Seo, Senthuran Varatharajah, and Alex Zhang Hungtai.