THE TANK: solo performance by Audrey Chen
(for voice, hydrophones, 100 gallon tank) 20 minutes.

This piece was originally performed at the Transmodern Age Festival in Baltimore, MD USA (2005). It was later realized in 2006 and incorporated two more musicans.

The principles of this work are very simple. Given a limited set of resources (time, materials, and technical assistance), I had been able to arrange a set environment, which also left ample room for chance and instantaneous manipulations. The resulting piece became something part instrument and part live installation. The tank is filled with water and is amplified utilizing 2 hydrophones. Below is a description of the original performance in 2005.

Upon entering the room, the audience is confronted with a tank of water that is lit from underneath by red lights, rendering the water the same color. There is a long dress floating in the water. When the performance begins I emerge from a separate space with goggles, a towel, and a pair of yellow swimming trunks. I walk across the space toward the tank, climb up, and lower myself into the water. This disruption to the stillness of the water is picked up immediately by the hydrophones. The remainder of the performance is improvised. I move, twist and contort my body inside the tank, struggle with the dress and eventually put it on. I am a fish. I am human. I am none of the above. I make sounds using my voice and also by rubbing my extremities and skin against the sides of the tank. It acts as a resonance chamber.

My â??workâ?? in general is process oriented. The majority of it is sound based; with a strong live performance aspect with brings it beyond the borders of simply being a musician. It is visceral and extremely emotional. I often give myself a simple map, or none at all, and respect the way the moment is shared with the audience revealing itself in real time.

This piece is an underwater vocalization.