“I’M FINE.”
2023 | 20 iPads. 20 pre-rendered videos. 8-channel fixed media for Wave-field-synthesis
This audiovisual installation evokes Asian women’s concerns about public safety — unspoken fear and anxiety. “How are you?” “I’m fine.” The underlying message of “I’M FINE” conveys unspeakable distresses, helplessness, and silent clamor. Asian women are depicted as “exotic, erotic, and submissive” by the mainstream media and public, revealing ethnic and gender stereotypes as a social phenomenon and hyper-sexualization. They are particularly vulnerable to verbal and physical threats, sexual harassment, and violence. In this installation, each screen can be a window to peer through and an outlet to convey messages. The silence is collapsed and can be shattered – Asian women’s voices will be dissected, re-constructed, and re-presented in a political and historical context.
Personæ
2022 | for two dancers, flute, cello, live electronics, sensors, and video art
Personæ is a multimedia project for two dancers, flute, cello, live electronics, sensors, and video art. Since the pandemic, we have spent more time being alone with ourselves. We had the time to rediscover and reconnect with ourselves. Personæ reveals an experience of being alone, dissociating or associating, a sense of presence, and a journey of reconciliation with oneself. The body has both physical and spiritual dimensions that connect with our embodied cognition and consciousness. The body has multiple attributes and its roles are diverse. In Personæ, the different approaches in music and choreography, such as spatialization of sounds, harmonics, intonations, and scale system in music, kinesphere and kinematic parameters of movement in dance are applied to link the body and sound, as well as convey the connotation of the concepts.
Premiered on 12th July, 2022 at Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg.
Dance, Choreography: Moe Gotoda, Pingcheng Wu
Cello: Carmen Kleykens Vidal
Flute: Hannah Wirnsperger
Video materials filmed by: Taizhi Shao
Collaborative composition by Fiona Xue Ju and Carolina Santiago
Ping Pong Game
2022 | for grand piano and electronics
(fixed media and live electronics)
Carolina Santiago: co-composer, curator, pianist
Deconstructing the piano as a ping pong table, both artists gave rise to a piece in which musical material was shared back and forth until creating a three-movement work based on the playfulness of the creative act in itself.
Premiered in Hamburg HfMT, 14 July 2022
Air Between Distance (no.1)
2022 | for flute, saxophone, and 6 balloon players
Air Between Distance is a series of works for wind instruments and balloons with/without live electronics. I want to give a rather new perspective on communication in this peculiar time. Moreover, I’m questioning whether people can perceive the sense of distance, social detachment, and be aware of the change of self-perception influenced by the environment in this situation. Air Between Distance – No. 1 is recorded on April 28th, 2022, at Forum, Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany from the concert: ENSEMBLE! – New Music Week “Subito!”
Fiona Xue Ju, composition
Hannah Wirnsperger, flute; Camila Nebbia, saxophone; Carolina Santiago Martínez / Francis St-Germain / Bastien Pouillès / Andro Manzoni / Carmen Kleykens Vidal / Fiona Xue Ju, balloon player
THIS IS AN experimental performance
of SOCIETY & EGO
BALLOON! is the DOUBLE of YOU!
take it as your TOOL of communications
( SEE the sound and air
HEAR the motion and space )
this is the SPACE…
where balloon sounds and movements are used for communication
WHO lead you ON THE WAY
? They will try to communicate with
you TRY to find out the new language
It’s a JOURNEY
of interactivity; audibility ‘ visuality
follow the RULE ?
make your own VOICE _?
ALIENATION
2021 | for solo dance, live electronics, sensors, and video art
Production, composition & interactive sound design: Fiona Xue Ju
Video art: Yan Yu
Dance: Nelia Naumanen
Stage lighting: Yan Yu
Sound recording: Fiona Xue Ju
Video recording: Qikun Wei
Video editing: Fiona Xue Ju / Special thanks to Hara Alonso
Alienation is a multimedia work for a dancer, live electronics, sensors, and video art (collaboration with media artist Yan Yu), recorded on May 27, 2021 at Royal College of Music in Stockholm (Kungliga Musikhögskolan), Sweden. It is one of a series of works related to the topic of “human – society – ego”. Under the situation of pandemics, the works present my reflections on reality and society and the concern for human nature. By experimenting with the sound I attempt to create a growing sense of alienation from reality as people nowadays slip further into the internet era and virtual reality.
be fixated and be immersed…
to be evoked or to be manipulated…
Dialogue: I, the wind, the dust, the immensity
2021 | for accordion, cello, and field recording of aeolian wind harp installation
Dedicated to John Grzinich’s sound installation “Powerless Flight” aeolian wind harp
This piece is dedicated to John Grzinich’s sound installation “Powerless Flight” aeolian wind harp that was built in an open field near Copper Leg Residency in northern Estonia. This piece is also a reconstruction of my memory of exploring and listening to this sound installation during the residency week on January 2021. I aim to create an environment that is in sync with an actual moving force of nature. It shows a process of gradually noticing the presence of the natural forces, from subtle changes to invisible and massive energies. In this piece, the sound installation in the natural environment is moved to an enclosed space; the dialogue and interaction generated by the acoustic instruments recreate the acoustic characteristics of the wind harp, thus it brings a different listening experience to the audience.
Composer: Fiona Xue Ju
Accordion: Bastien Pouillès
Cello: Carmen Kleykens Vidal
Recorded on May 28, 2021, at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm (Kungliga Musikhögskolan), Lilla Salen concert hall
Sound recording: Giovanni Onorato
Sound editing: Fiona Xue Ju
Video editing: Fiona Xue Ju
Field recording materials of aeolian wind harp installation are recorded by: Fiona Xue Ju / John Grzinich
Photos in video background credit to: https://maaheli.ee/main/powerless-fli…
Premiered on May 28, 2021, in the Lilla Salen concert hall, the Royal College of Music in Stockholm (Kungliga Musikhögskolan), Sweden.
Idea and production: Marit Miller
Dance: Marit Miller
Music: Fiona Xue Ju
Light: David Truusa
Supervisor: Oksana Tralla
KORFEST 21 – “Isometric”
2021 | sound design for dance production
A collaboration with dancer Marit Miller. The production is part of the KorFest21 program in Baltic Film, Media and Arts School (BFM) of Tallinn University. Performed on May 08, 2021, in Tallinn, Estonia
Experimental Film:
Invocation – BLESSING THE BOAT
2018 | experimental film
Program Notes by Composer:
I was inspired by the poem Invocation – Blessing the Boat written by Robin Coste Lewis, which is a narrative poem consisting of fragmented words to visualize exhibitions of Western art objects. “Of a Balsarium Glass Moss Fragment Untitled Gelatin Silver Print” (quote Invocation – Blessing the Boat from by Robin Coste Lewis) As a museumgoer, what I find most intriguing in this poem is that Lewis uses words of different museum objects and subtly connects them. The mashing together of a series of seemingly irrelevant words and concepts shows some special creative association among art objects throughout history. In my piece, the sound that emits every time inspires a comprehension and a visual emergence of its relative words in the poem. I try to present a reinterpretation of this poem through various musical ideas that resonate with me. For example, I make an association between a melody from a medieval old Roman chant Offertorium: Terra Tremuit with a sentence in Lewis’ poem, where the Roman chant appears in my mind when I access the old Roman art object as described by Lewis: “Obverse anthropomorphic sarcophagus. Alabastron eulogia ampulla.” Sometimes I use a specific timbre or texture to present an object in the poem, such as the “Fiber beads”, “Coins”, etc. At the end of my piece, you will hear several instruments and sounds in turns, which is exactly the same as the description in the “finale” section of the poem: “Harp with Bridge Harp Lute One-key Xylophone Slit Gong Trumpet Gong Gong Mallet Whistle Rattle Drum.” The music and the film present the whole content of the poem, providing the visual illustration of art objects in the museum. Art, as a product of the spiritual civilization of humans, also accompanies the development of human society through the times. It’s the result of constant exploration and creative recognition towards the universe. At the end of the poem, “a strong incised vaginal” suggests the origin of life, where new worlds are created, new journeys begin, and new lives are born. All life and art forms are connected; they both arise from the origin of life.
Invocation: Blessing the Boat (2018) 12’
Composer: Xue Ju
An experimental film with music (piece for Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble concert 5/2/2018)
Film director: Jingyuan Wang / Xue Ju
Based on the music recording of Invocation – Blessing the Boat, this 13-minutes short experimental movie was filmed in Cleveland Museum of Art and Allen Memorial Art Museum. As both the music and film present the whole content of the poem, it provides the visual illustration of art objects in the museum. It was shown on April 26, 2018, at Warner Concert Hall, Oberlin Conservatory, USA.
(Directed by Xue Ju, Visualized by Jingyuan Wang)
Invocation – BLESSING THE BOAT
2018 | ensemble
A 15 performers sinfonietta piece for CME (Contemporary Music Ensemble) in Oberlin. Inspired by the poem Invocation – Blessing the Boat by Robin Coste Lewis. It was premiered on March 2nd 2018 in Warner Recital Hall, Oberlin Conservatory, USA, and the second performance took place in Cleveland Museum of Art on March 4th 2018.
Tim Weiss, conductor
Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble MARCH 2, 2018 – WARNER CONCERT HALL Flute: Hexin Zhang Percussion: Carson Fratus Oboe: Colton Potter Harp: Ina McCormack Clarinet: Evan Schnurr Piano: Paul Celebi Bassoon: Alan Truong Violin 1:Kelly Sohyoung Lee Horn: John Freiberg Violin 2: Jae Yee Lee Trumpet: Sam Friedman Viola: Nicolas Vigilante Bass Trombone: Sam Weaver Cello: Emma Churchill Bass: Matthew Frerck
Escape of a Dream
(sound design)
2018 | sound design for installation
An experimental installation by the media artist Laura Li. It was on display at the Oberlin College on May, 2018.
It is the 2-hour-long video installation with performance elements in it inside a theatre room. The installation has two projections and one set. By entering the door, there is a small projection on a waved velvet screen showing an animated story. The second projection is projected from the floor to the rooftop. The center of the installation is an empty bed. On top of that is a glass fish tank with a clayed infant inside and next to the fish tank is an actress who is trying to embody the installer herself. The rooftop is transformed with bedsheets loosely hanging next to each other. A projection is onto that and through the clay infant, the projection has a shadow of the baby. The project means to be an autobiographical space for the creator who tries to re-make a dream space that she used to have when she was a child. The dark blue place represents her past and her fear–creating it serves as a therapeutic space for her to reflect and connect it to the audience.
Abstraktes Bild
2018 | flute/alto flute and fixed media
For flute/alto flute and fixed media. Inspired by Gerhard Richter’s abstract paintings. I utilized electronically reprocessed sounds of a variety of recorded flute timbres to present the texture of the paintings. During the live performance, the flutist made seveal single sounds which represented the role of a scraper, a brush or the artist himself. The fixed media part shows the effect of the overall color. It was premiered on April 26th 2018 in Warner Concert Hall, Oberlin Conservatory, USA.
FRAGRANCES
2017 | ensemble and fixed media
Suite for 9 musicians and fixed media comprising seven movements based on seven smells: I. Bamboo and Jasmine, II. Rosemary Mint, III. Japanese Cherry Blossom, IV. Ocean Flowers, V. Spiced Pomegranate, VI. Apple Cinnamon, VII. Nag Champa. The electronic and acoustic sounds mixed and filled the air to create an environment or a concept related to the sense of smell. Premiered in April 29th 2017 in Stull Recital Hall, Oberlin Conservatory, USA.
The Diving Bell and The Butterfly
2016 | ensemble
For clarinet, violin, violoncello, piano, and percussion group. Inspired by the French movie The Diving Bell and The Butterfly (2007). The story is based on Jean-Dominique Bauby’s book. Recorded in Oberlin Conservatory, Oberlin, Ohio, USA. September 2016.
INWARDNESS
2015 | live electronics
A recorded work entirely through MAX Live control. The bizarre and noisy experimental piece of music combines the recorded piano of Chopin‘s Nocturne op.9 no.2 and a series of noises and conversations to present the inner calmness and tranquility with disturb or upset from external circumstances. September 2015.
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