Travel Through ASEAN Soundscapes at Museum Siam

People listen to bamboo street music in Hanoi, Vietnam, in an undated photo. Photo: Courtesy Museum Siam

By Lisnaree Vichitsorasatra
Staff Reporter

BANGKOK — Take your eyes off the screen and open your ears to escape into another world that’s not so far away. Hear birds warble and chirp in a lush national park in coastal Cambodia. A master strikes notes from bamboo instruments on Borneo. Torrents of rain pound a village in the north of Vietnam.

Southeast Asia’s diversity of culture is poorly understood or experienced, and with Thailand on the verge of joining this broader community of neighbors, people can go on an aural adventure at As((ear))n, an exhibition of curated sounds from throughout the region now showing at Bangkok’s Museum Siam.

“This exhibition will encourage visitors to open their eyes and ears to the sounds, stories and histories, tastes and tales of the region,” Jean David-Caillouët, one of eight artists featured in the exhibition.

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Sounds for the immersive installation were collected from Cambodia, Vietnam and Malaysia, and many from around Thailand.

To create a kind of ASEAN radio station tuned into its built and natural environments, the artists contributed video footage and sounds to archive the region’s diversity of sounds.

The As((ear))n exhibition is divided to two parts: an information and documentary room, and an interactive room with a 360-degree projector and eight speakers.

AS((EAR))N sound exhibition runs now through Dec. 20 at Museum Siam.

Here are a few of the sounds:

 

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Hear more samples at Asearn.com.