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PROJECT 1
ARTS x DISABILITY｜Returning Sound

a site-specific celebration of hope and resilience, proposed to take place at Tai Kwun, Hong Kong

Year: 1｜SDGs: 3, 4, 5, 10, 11 & 17

Project Leads: Prof. Mette Hjort (LCS); Dr. Leung Chi Hin (CCA); Dr. Koji Matsunobo (CCA); Dr. Eric Kong (ECE); in collaboration with Dr. Thomas Moors (Shout at Cancer Choir, UK), Phil Clemo (UK), Prof. Eugene Birman (HKBU), and Prof. Chow Yiu-fai (Hong Kong Metropolitan University)

 

Collaborations: proposed, Tai Kwun (HK); HKBU; Shout at Cancer Choir (UK); Atos and Respeecher (Tech Companies in the synthetic voice industry); Laryngectomee community, HK; centre fellow Eugene Birman, HKBU composer; centre fellow Chow Yiu-fai, lyricist, Hong Kong Metropolitan University; centre fellow Thomas Moors, NHS & Shout at Cancer Choir; centre fellow Phil Clemo, UK-based composer and filmmaker; EdUHK student musicians and choirs

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Synopsis

“Returning Sound” is a multi-disciplinary, research-based, policy-oriented cultural event created for the Tai Kwun arts district in Hong Kong in collaboration with UK partners and Hong Kong (practice-based) researchers. The project responds to research questions regarding inclusion and diversity, humans’ relationship to nature, and the potential of Art Tech positively to transform human experience. The project involves four well-integrated elements: a performance featuring singing by two distinctive choirs (one consisting of laryngectomee singers without voice boxes and of hologram singers, the other of the now-sacred survivor trees of Hiroshima and Nagasaki); an immersive exhibition related to these choirs; workshop-based experimentation with new sounds (Cantonese for the choir, synthetic voices for the audience members); and a series of workshops and talks (including with the former head of the HK Hospital Authority). “Returning Sound” involves: holograms to bring deceased singers into the performance spaces of the laryngectomee choir; the use of sensors and infrared cameras to capture the sounds and look of the now sacred Japanese trees; the laryngectomees’ experimental singing in Cantonese for the first time; and a partnership with Atos and Respeecher, companies looking to bring synthetic voice technologies to the Greater Bay Area and to Mainland Chinese markets. As such “Returning Sound” has many of the elements that the RCCAPV seeks to foreground in distinctive and systematic ways: action-oriented research, research-based creative practice, arts & industry alliances, public engagement, facilitation of policy-oriented discussions, Education Futures-relevant involvement of pupils and students, and the possibility of making a significant contribution to the cultural landscape of Hong Kong.

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Objectives

Research and develop new Art Tech-based forms of grieving and memory work.

  1. Bring together two choirs - one consisting of trees and the other of singers without voice boxes - for a joint performance in Hong Kong in 2025 or 2026.

  2. Localise the performance through: i) collaboration with composers and practice-based researchers Eugene Birman (HKBU) and Leung Chi Hin (EdUHK), and with Cantopop lyricist and practice-based researcher Chow Yiu-fai (HKBU); ii) an Arts Tech- and AI Ethics-oriented exploration of hologram technology for memory work related to death; iii) collaboration with the HK laryngectomee community, student performers, HK experts in special needs education, and a leading doctor and administrator from the Hospital Authority

  3. Support the transformation of lives affected by illness and disability through research-based artistic practice.

  4. Facilitate policy-oriented discussions on disability in the Hong Kong context.

  5. Offer young Hong Kongers a compelling example of human resilience and promote attitudes supportive of well-being and long-term thriving.

  6. Develop a partnership with a world class exhibition and performance site.

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