Building on the film's blend of documentary, scientific, and natural imagery, Chang's score questions how audio takes up space in a visual hierarchy, and invokes spiritual concentration via classic club sounds.
Where Can We Be Found? (2023; أين يمكن أن تجدنا؟, by EcoRove) is a research project and film that focuses on the state of Lebanese Cedar trees (Cedrus libani) today, exploring the various ecologies that the tree inhabits and co-inhabits. Shown in two parts and accompanied by a pair of animated drawings, the film re-tells transhistorical narratives of the Cedar, which has been used since ancient times as a symbol of eternity and immortality. Tracing various degrees of human impact leading to the tree's contemporary demise- for example, the disruption of its habitat due to climate change and extractive tourism- and its use as a civic emblem to craft the illusion of a distinct Lebanese identity, Where Can We Be Found? distinguishes the Lebanese Cedar as an autonomous being from the various ways in which it has been used as a national, cultural, and ecological symbol, or otherwise misconstrued.
WHERE CAN WE BE FOUND? (2023)
45-min art documentary dir. by EcoRove
original score by Frances Chang (electronic, musique concrète)
Listen to WHERE CAN WE BE FOUND? (2023)
premiered via Screen Series at the New Museum, NYC.
Artist Edition Cassette courtesy of the New Museum, NYC and Spirit Duplicator, London UK.
January 7, 2024: Live Score Performance by Frances Chang at the New Museum