This is an excerpt from a 45-minute soundscape composition "As the River Flows", a stereo mixdown of a 15-channel piece, originally recorded on 15 audio cassettes and played back on separate boomboxes. (Photo credit: Chong Li-Chuan)
Installation view of "As the River Flows" in the River Room, Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore. (Photo credit: Chong Li-Chuan)
As the River Flows
by Chong Li-Chuan (sound) and Casey Chen (light)
Part of Light to Night 2022 * at Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM)
14 January 2022 - 3 February 2022
by Chong Li-Chuan (sound) and Casey Chen (light)
Part of Light to Night 2022 * at Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM)
14 January 2022 - 3 February 2022
"As the River Flows", light & sound installation, entrance to the River Room, Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore. (Photo credit: Chong Li-Chuan)
Installation view of "As the River Flows". Sound artist Chong Li-Chuan (left), multidisciplinary artist Casey Chen (right) (Photo credit: Jess Chen)
Installation view of "As the River Flows". Sound artist Chong Li-Chuan rehearsing the activation of the soundscape composition played back on 15 boomboxes. (Video credit: Chong Li-Chuan)
Artists' statement
The soundscape of a river, in an ecological sense, is constantly changing. It shifts according to the time of day, the season (for example, monsoon), the prevailing weather, and other natural elements. It is a spatial and temporal mix of sounds from inhabitants along the riverbanks, activities on the river itself (or lack thereof), and the flora and fauna coexisting in the environment.
What does a soundscape composition of the river express and represent to you?
How does one navigate the past, present, and future, extending from the river, through sound and light? Whose voices will we hear? Whose faces and shadows will we see? And what stories will they tell?
If you dive into the Oral History Interviews at the National Archives of Singapore, you might find out about the powers that shaped and transformed the waterways of this island city-state since independence.
The pre-colonial soundscape would have been bustling with life, as we are informed by Singapore archaeology. Visit the ACM's Singapore Archaeology Gallery to learn more from the artefacts unearthed in the vicinity of Empress Place. What sounds would Stamford Raffles have heard when he landed in Singapore?
And what of the recent past? What soundmarks (a term used in soundscape studies derived from "landmark") prevailed since colonial times? Consider the chimes from the bells in the clock tower of the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, sounding out every quarter of an hour and reflecting off the buildings nearby. Is it part of collective memory, then and now, of what is demarcated as Singapore’s Civic District?
The present-day soundscape signifies self-determination of sorts: the transformations of the Singapore River, waltzing or perhaps marching through time to a tune... Whose tune? What sounds were heard? What sounds were lost? Who cares to listen?
A lighting note...
A ubiquitous object used at the excavation sites – the colander – inspired the light design of this As the River Flows installation. Seen in numerous pictures of digs, it is the humble companion of archaeologists, used to carry and sort out the various things they find. By a stroke of Casey Chen's genius, what was once a tool with a practical purpose is now an object of beauty and contemplation.
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* About Light to Night 2022 — As part of Light to Night 2022, ACM presents New Waves. Explore the Singapore River and its stories known and imagined, through layers of context, conversations, and reflections.
Read more: https://www.nationalgallery.sg/lighttonight/programmes/as-the-river-flows/
Read more: https://www.nationalgallery.sg/lighttonight/programmes/as-the-river-flows/
Installation view of "As the River Flows". (Photo credit: Chong Li-Chuan)
Installation view of "As the River Flows". Audience on 22 January 2022. (Photo credit: Chong Li-Chuan)
With kind permission from the National Archives of Singapore, “As the River Flows” featured extracts from the following oral history interviews:
CHAN Puay Kiat
Accession Number 001919
Reel 1 of 4 (8 Jul 1997, interviewer: Zaleha bte Osman)
Start time 00:14:21
“Since 1984… I think 10 over years…”
End time 00:21:56
“…was it the same when you first started? Does it take you one hour? Yes, that’s right.”
LEE Ek Tieng
Accession Number 002832
Reel 4 of 8 (29 Apr 2004, interviewer: Lim Siam Kim)
Start time 00:00:51
“Hawkers was another major item. Part of the cleaning up programme (of) Singapore River…”
End time 00:18:42
“Like all things, you can build the infrastructure, you can clean up, now we are going into the maintenance stage.”
RAMSEY, Jeremy Charles Gordon
Accession Number 003286
Reel 3 of 5 (11 Apr 2008, interviewer: Dr Sian Eira Jay)
Start time 00:23:46
“…it’s hard to envisage Singapore in the 1960s”
End time 00:25:48
“…they probably threw it in the sea or something.”
MIKSIC, John Norman
Accession Number 003472
Reel 4 of 4 (9 Feb 2010, interviewer: Tan Teng Teng)
Start time 00:28:47
“Well, for someplace that didn’t have an archaeological programme at all 25 years ago…”
End time 00:34:50
“I would feel sad if what I did, in the end, turned out to not really be relevant for the people of Singapore”
LIM Soo Ping
Accession Number 003884
Reel 8 of 23 (24 Jul 2014, interviewer: Adrian Tan)
Start time 00:13:14
“…whole river cleanup probably was at its conceptualisation stage”
End time 00:14:53
“…have to make way for other uses, for the warehouses, for example.”
CHEN Hung
Accession Number 004026
Reel 7 of 11 (15 Jan 2016, interviewer: Patricia Lee)
Start time 00:57
“Oh, when Mr Lee Kuan Yew was the prime minister he gave us the target for ten years to clean up the Singapore River…”
End time 00:05:45
“…reuse all the effluence for drinking water supply and industrial use.”
Installation view of "As the River Flows". Audience on 22 January 2022. (Photo credit: Chong Li-Chuan)
Installation view of "As the River Flows". Audience on 22 January 2022. (Photo credit: Chong Li-Chuan)
Installation view of "As the River Flows". Audience on 22 January 2022. Sound artist Chong Li-Chuan (foreground) activating the soundscape composition played back on 15 boomboxes. (Photo courtesy of Asian Civilisations Museum)
Further reading…
With reference to Singapore archaeology:
Material excavated from Empress Place 1998 excavation (2015)
Heritage Heroes Digging Up History: Dr John Miksic (2017)
The Lion City's Glorious Past: The founding mythology of this city-state was once thought to be pure fiction — archaeology says otherwise (2017)
Becoming Singapore (2019)
With reference to the river cleanup:
Clean-up Of The Singapore River: Before And After (2012)
https://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/gia/article/clean-up-of-the-singapore-river-before-and-after
Clean-up of Singapore River and Kallang Basin (2019)
Clean-up of Singapore River and Kallang Basin (2019)
With reference to the soundmark (a term derived from 'landmark' used in soundscape studies):
Guardian of the Clocktower - Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall (2014)
Field recording for "As the River Flows" at various locations in the vicinity of the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore. (Photo credit: Chong Li-Chuan)
