Missed Connections 1 & 2

Research Background: Issues around individual and cultural identity have provided a strong site of engagement for artists working in emerging contemporary cultures. Vietnam's 20th century diaspora, linked to the turbulent evolution from French colony to closed Communist state, and recent return of the children of that emigration in response to a post-Doi Moi opening to the world has provided a fertile ground for exploration of this topic with non-narrative documentary a popular format for exploration. In Missed Connections the challenges to this approach are in the production of a soundtrack that is coherent, reinforces the visual content, and also adds meaning beyond that expressed in the visuals. Research Contribution: This sound work was commissioned by artist R. Streitmatter-Tran to support his video exploration of the uncertain nature of identity and belonging within the Vietnamese context and in particular for the artist, a Viet Kieu (expat) who returned to Vietnam in 2000s. The score developed in response to Michel Chion's concept of semantic listening as a way in which to introduce meaning not evident in the video itself but key to several of the concepts that were to be conveyed. This was accomplished through the use of genre referencing, repetition, and audio effects processing to produce a score that evokes themes of post-colonialism, isolation and timelessness/repetition to augment visual themes. Research Significance: The significance of this research reinforces Chion's concepts of sematic listening and the artist's themes. The value of the work is attested to by its beHeather Horsing purchased by the Singapore Art Museum for inclusion in its permanent collection and specific mention of the importance of the soundtrack in the curator's notes for this work "the atmospheric soundtrack lends Missed Connections much of its poignancy, and the overall mood of isolation and missed opportunities for connection can be seen as a statement of our condition".