9RACE WANG
makingHomesickness has consistently been my primary challenge as an international student living away from home. The transition from a bustling household of ten family members to solo living in a flat has been quite significant. Each day, I wake up alone, shop for groceries alone, and end the day alone. However, it's during dinner time that I feel the most isolated and different.
In Taiwan, dinner time holds a special significance as my family always gathers together. It's the busiest time of the day with children's laughter filling the air, the table bustling with activity, and adults sharing stories of their day. Contrasting this with dinner in London, where it's just me and my iPad playing YouTube videos, the sense of solitude couldn't be more palpable.
Sound experience is the main focus of the presented project. This is an investigation of how sound impacts memory and feelings. For the Spring break I went back home, where an episode of the family dinner shows was made. When I started the recordings while back home in Taiwan spontaneous memories were triggered which led them to be even stronger than before. Among all of them, I remember especially the "spinning table" sound that was present in our house. This memory of the audio sounds of eating in my house had a great influence on me, and I decided to try to recreate the same atmosphere here in London. In that way, I felt the connection and coziness of my own place and this has almost remedied my longing feelings.
The video depicts the outcome of my experiment wherein I affixed wheels beneath my plates. The rotational motion and accompanying sound produced by the wheels remind me of HOME.