Sun Wei
1976, Beijing (China)
Lives and works in Chengdu (China)
Sound Temple, 2021
Sound installation
3 acoustic canvas hoods, 3 mono speakers, 3 audio files
Courtesy of the artist
Sun Wei is a sound and field recording artist whose work explores the diversity of auditory frequencies and the relationship between acoustic vibrations and the environment. His works include ultrasonic recordings of nature, underwater frequencies and the background noises of everyday life.
In Sound Temple, the artist questions the way in which sound enables individuals to access spirituality, observing how the sonic context distinguishes the temples of Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, from those of other cities. Sun Wei shows how the temples of the schools of different cultural systems and the sounds that surround them reflect the contrasts between the technological frenzy of cities and the atmosphere created by religious cultures. This installation presents a transformed version of sounds collected online at different frequencies (256 Hz and 432 Hz) that generally characterise the modulations heard in temples that invite meditation. This work projects the sound composition of a building through space, architecture, environment and individuals. The viewer wanders through three structures before perceiving the sounds emanating from each. The field explored by Sun Wei is both tangible and intangible, reconstituting a “sound temple”, an imaginary interior created through an immersive experience.