Artist Statement: Zai Tang

Through the Mind’s Eye of a Needle

In recent years, I’ve obsessively documented all my dreams upon waking - through writing, drawing and voice recording. Through the Mind’s Eye of a Needle is a search for an alternative method of exploring the meanings of my dream material, by translating these experiences into a sonorous form. 

 

I wanted to remain flexible in my approach to dream interpretation, so I have adopted improvisational methods of playing my prepared vinyl records, field recordings and spoken dream recollections. When these elements amalgamate, I am able to plunge myself back into the memory of specific dream experiences and freely re-interpret them within a lucid moment of sound. This instinct driven approach better reflects the dynamic nature of the unconscious, and encourages playful responses to the immersive atmospheres, fragmented narratives and fluid morphologies of space and characters experienced within dreams.

Alongside my improvisation-lead composition, I have presented the prepared vinyl and other tools I used to improvise with. These interconnected sonorous objects are made visible to give a more holistic experience to the listener, acting both as a visual score to the final sound composition and a means of revealing my dream sonification process.

My process itself is more concerned with discovery than expression. Like the unraveling of a dream’s message through word association, one sonic encounter leads me to the next as I seek out something that feels meaningful in relation to the dream, then dig deeper.