Asterisms
2024
quadraphonic audio, single-channel video
36m36s
My testosterone shots and menstrual periods, represented in the sun and moon, are visualized and sonified against the visibility of ancient Chinese constellations (asterisms) in the sky, layering these three cycles across a full calendar year. Each of the 304 asterisms are represented by a composition for the snare drum, derived from stellar properties of the stars in each asterism. This work explores the many societal binaries within which my lived experience exists as a duality: male vs female, Chinese vs American, tradition vs modernity, religion vs science.
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What is the present moment?
The present is the only tangible reality we’ll ever experience.
The present is forever in motion.
The present is process and action in the midst of happening.
My process and action happens between the sky and the ground
between male and female
between Chinese and American
between tradition and modernity
between religion and science.
The story of my present is a story of dualities, motions, cycles.
The cycles of this body against the cycles of the sun and moon
against the cycles of stars in ancient Chinese constellations.
