One Take, many iterations (2000-2020)
One Take
A digital video by Linda Lai
Image & voice performance: Linda Lai
Automatic writings generated by One Take – Polyphony (PDF)
一天，突然好想逃離這個世界。
眼前的澳門文化中心斜流，六月晚晝和暖的陽光，水流淌散於橫紋石屎的肌理上再人工不過 。手不覺間在搖而沒有終止的意願，六分鐘的數碼錄像，在隨意不拘的弧線運轉之中以單鏡頭變化出蒙太奇和剪接的幻象。我盪得心也開了，破口處滲溢的，彷彿都是綿綿歲月的茵陳細碎瑣事。在快慢門和色溫光圈的不加思索變易下，涓流滑動的水精靈誘我領我尋索那已失散多年的音韻。大調元音、五度在捉迷藏。
我發聲，所以我存在。
有聲無韻。
至於我失去的是甚麼聲甚麼韻，我還在尋找。
One Take (originally in three parts) seeks to experiment the relation between image and sound by juxtaposing different soundscapes against the same set of images. Each part explores the new poetic possibilities of the digital video via automatism, a creative principle I have taken after the French Surrealists (1920s), which cherishes chance over deliberate planning, the unconscious over intentions, and celebrates the joy of discovery and amazement along the creative process.
One day in June 2000, a few random thoughts came to my mind as I was waiting for my friends outside the Macao Cultural Centre… Can I paint digitally? Can I create the illusion of a montage sequence in one take? The result was the visual footage of One Take, which is one long take in 6 minutes by crossing 3 sets of lines against one another: a broad patch of water flowing down a slope, the horizontal lines cutting across the slope on which the water flowed, and a curving movement of the camera over the moving water. I played randomly with the zoom button, the colour balance, the speed and the exposure, like I was dropping words freely on paper. I was lost in time and space. Was I looking for something? It was a momentary desire to get lost.
A few months later, when I looked at the footage again, two sets of musical intervals — a whole tone, and the perfect fifth — struck my mind and would not leave. I therefore turned them into the raw material (the motifs) for my vocal improvisation alongside the playing of my video. Four 6-minute improvised recordings were made as a result. I realised how long I have not been singing. I then laid the 4 recordings parallel one another against the video and made Polyphony, while my most favourite recording was used in its original entirety for Meditations.
What you see here is the untouched original footage — exactly what I produced on the spot that afternoon. The four recordings of my improvised vocal performance were a bit raw. But I decided not to clean up and leave them exactly as they were originally produced, but laid over one another to let the parallels generate the automatic music.
I. Meditations
A momentary drift-away from the realm of cognition one day in June (2000) when I stood alone in front of the Macao Cultural Centre, waiting… A tired voice was looking for its lost/possible sounds.
II. Polyphony
I know not what I want.
My shattered senses vanish into the wind and hail.
The unspeakable and the voiceless ring and circle and
Swim up my limbs like a stream.
I utter, therefore I am.
不知道想要的是甚麼
微風驟起我的感知四散，聽-感-思-看-觸的碎片
成了一張無邊際無限延伸的網
難言的被歇止的聲帶被閹割的…
我撈了一堆語音在我頭上彈跳打圈圈
痲痺了的四肢忽然微流著血氣
我發聲所以我存在
Written poetry proceeds from stanza to stanza. My visual poetry is equivocal, polyphonic and combinatoric.
Music is a matter of chance.
SYNOPSIS:
‘One Take’ is one 6-minute continuous long take played two times, each with a different soundscape based on the artist’s improvised voice performances while standing in the dark watching the play-back of the 6-minute clip projected on a big wall.
“A momentary drift-away from the realm of cognition one summer day when I stood alone in front of the Macao Cultural Centre, waiting… A tired voice was looking for its lost/possible sounds.
I know not what I want.
My shattered senses vanish into the wind and hail.
The unspeakable and the voiceless ring and circle and
Swim up my limbs like a stream.
I utter, therefore I am.” (Linda Lai)
* * * *
ARTIST’S STATEMENT:
‘One Take’ seeks to experiment the relation between image and sound by juxtaposing different sound-scapes against the same set of image. Each part explores the new poetic possibilities of the digital video via automatism, a creative principle I have taken after the French Surrealists (1920s), which cherishes chance over deliberate planning, the unconscious over intentions, and celebrates the joy of discovery and amazement along the creative process.
A few random thoughts came to my mind one day as I was waiting for my friends outside the Macao Cultural Centre… Can I paint digitally? Can I create the illusion of a montage sequence in one take? The result was the visual footage of One Take, which is one long take in 6 minutes by crossing 3 sets of lines against one another: a broad patch of water flowing down a slope, the horizontal lines cutting across the slope on which the water flowed, and a curving movement of the camera over the moving water. I played randomly with the zoom button, the color balance, the speed and the exposure, like I was dropping words freely on paper. I was lost in time and space. Was I looking for something? It was a momentary desire to get lost.
A few months later, when I looked at the footage again, two sets of musical intervals — a whole tone, and the perfect fifth — struck my mind and would not leave. This became the raw material (the motifs) for my vocal improvisation alongside the playing of my video. Four 6-minute improvised recordings were made as a result. Affected by the fatigue of my voice, I laid the 4 recordings parallel one another against the video.
Suggestions for presentation:
To be projected on wall in the corner of a room; eye-level compatible to a window opening on the wall; suggested dimension of projection: 40” x 30” (4:3); with sound (speaker required)
Alternative presentation: looping video played on old-style TV set put on rectangular pedestal for eye-level viewing
***
This is one of my single-take exercises, followed by a montage exercise that turns a single take into an enclosed world with no outside. In this way, my single-take exercises are performative works with me and the camera collaborating on the spot, deploying instantaneous yet limited resources available.
Fish Tank with a Lost Voice 失聲
2016 a sound sculpture
Sculpture + video | 12’58” video on 14” monitor mounted on a vase, 2 speakers, reflective sheet on polished stones 43 x 32 x 25 cm (16 7/8 x 12 5/8 x 9 7/8 in.)
12’58” video on 14” monitor mounted on a vase, reflective sheet on polished stones 43 x 32 x 25 cm (16 7/8 x 12 5/8 x 9 7/8 in.)
One Take Many Folds
6m37s | 2000/2019 | Linda Lai
One day in June 2000, a few random thoughts came to my mind as I was waiting for my friends outside the Macao Cultural Centre… Can I paint digitally? Can I create the illusion of a montage sequence in one take? The result was the visual footage of One Take, which is one long take in 6 minutes by crossing 3 sets of lines against one another: a broad patch of water flowing down a slope, the horizontal lines cutting across the slope on which the water flowed, and a curving movement of the camera over the moving water. I played randomly with the zoom button, color balance, speed and the exposure, like I was dropping words freely on paper. I was lost in time and space. Was I looking for something? Perhaps simply a momentary desire to get lost?
Many Folds. I did several rounds of vocal improvisation and overlay the audio tracks to form the soundscape. Audio elements of Hong Kong in the autumn of 2019 are inserted as the video comes to its end, breaking the peaceful visual legato of Macau as the invisible presence of Hong Kong asserts.
