Searching Out, Saving, and Sounding Spaces

This presentation will introduce Edward Sanderson's research into the spaces for sound art and experimental music as they have developed in the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong, and describe some of my recent activities based on this research.

For the last 15 years or so he has focused on spaces for sound art and experimental music and spatially-related practices that find their homes in these spaces. Geographically, he restricts himself to the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong (already a huge area), and the period is from the late 1990s to the present day, although he also deals with some earlier material for context. This research has led him to build up a physical archive of material, currently based in Hong Kong, and from this I have produced various texts, events, and curated exhibitions.

This talk will be structured around four important stages in the development of this research: my PhD at HK Baptist University's Academy of Visual Art; the 2023 “Sounds Like Print” display at Tai Kwun Contemporary; the recently concluded exhibition “It Always Sounds Somewhere” at the Inside-Out Art Museum in Beijing; and the performance series “Exit-Entry” which invites Mainland artists to perform alongside local artists, and which serves as a further means to promote connections and knowledge sharing between the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong.

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Bio:

Dr. Edward Sanderson is a researcher and curator focusing on contemporary non-mainstream sonic practices from the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong. In 2025 Edward curated the exhibition "It Always Sounds Somewhere" at Inside-Out Art Museum in Beijing, presenting an extensive set of installations of the multiple forms of space used for sound art and experimental music, supplemented by a series of related performances and talks. Edward is currently developing a physical and online archive of sound-related material, and co-curating the Exit-Entry performance series bringing together Chinese Mainland and local artists to play in Hong Kong’s underground venues.

Talk to be held in English