TONG TANA

Describe your idea and concept of your work in relation to the festival outlines:

TONG TANA is an ethnographic sound work, originaly conceived of as an installation / performance, but completed as a documentary radio drama. It is comprised of field recordings, narrative and prose that describes both the plight of the remaining native forests of Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, and the cosmology of the first peoples who desire to still live in them. TONG TANA was performed in Cape Town in July 2009, developed through an artists residency at the Dunmoochin Foundation and broadcast in Austria in association with ORF/KunstRadio on 30 August 2014.

What kind of communication approach do you use?

Within TONG TANA I chose to use a combination of documentary style exposition and drama through the use of poetry. I have found the concept of documentary drama enables the artist to tell stories and share qualitative information with a degree of intimacy that may not be possible through other means. Both forms are underscored by field recordings and treated string instruments, specifically the Sapeh, a traditional instrument from Sarawak. The idea was to produce an evocative work for radio that sits within the genres of documentary and radio drama.

What are in your opinion concrete benefits to the society because of your communication?

I have found the combination of tender sound works and composition, in concert with documentary drama approaches enables the artist to tell stories and share qualitative information with a degree of intimacy that may not be possible through other means. The issues are described in a manner that attempts to draw people into a world of compassion and empathy; the idea being that we are all in this together. Whether TONG TANA benefits society remains to be seen. All I know is that when I am compelled to produce a work that synthesizes personal experience with a notion of the common good, I will do what ever it takes to bring it into the visible and / or heard world.

What did you personally learn from creating your submitted work?

I struggled through this project finding my self re-writing it almost entirely. The first script was written in 2009. The process gave me pause to reflect on what it is I truly wanted to communicate and how to go about doing it. I learnt to trust my intuition, to know that saying a thing directly, from ones heart, through extractive means (e.g. hard work) that overrides the obvious, drawing one to the sublime... Well, it really is about hard work and allowing oneself to literally walk ideas through until it is done, no matter the means nor time. In short I learnt to trust my processes, that I am experienced enough to do so, but to also be open to the notion that ones processes can do with a shake out every now and then. Perhaps more often than not. Particularly when seeking to reach deep into the core of one's audience.

Why is your work, GOOD communication WORK?

I believe it is GOOD communication WORK because it seeks empathy rather than judgement. It seeks to draw listeners into a world that they are a part of, not apart from. Personally if it reaches and moves a handful of people, no matter the number, the ripple effect of that reach can be far more far reaching than one can imagine.

Where and how do you intent do implement your work?

The radio version of TONG TANA was broadcast on 30 August in Europe. It is available for syndication to other broadcasters world-wide.

An accompanying video is being produced which would enable the work to be screened within an exhibition context and / or broadcast.

Did your intervention had an effect on other Media. If yes, describe the effect? (Has other media reported on it- how? Were you able to change other media with your work- how?)

Not that I am presently aware of. Not with TONG TANA specifically, however other works of mine have contributed to positive discourse around asylum seekers for example.