For more about Tsai-Wei Chen's artworks from 2004, please visit http://homepage.mac.com/wei224/TWC.htm

Written in 2006:

Currently I am conducting PhD in music department, Goldsmiths College, University of London. The provisional title of the research is 'On the Way Home: Taipei sojourners' sonic constellations in London'.

The research focuses on the emotional and cultural impacts of foreigners' listening experiences in London. London is a multi-cultural global city that attracts thousands of sojourners each year. Taking Taipei sojourners as a case study, the research employs the notion of sonic constellations in an attempt to investigate the sounds that Taipei sojourners listen, recollect and imagine when they are in London. Their on-the-way-home journeys in London, in particular, are the departing point for this study. Several issues, including the recognitions of home and belonging and the changes in their cultural identities are raised, as the auditory experiences of Taipei sojourners are analysed using methods and techniques from various disciplines. Apart from art practice that has a prominent role in this research, soundscape, cultural and ethnographical studies provide the analytical framework to approach this topic.

Although Taipei sojourners are bodily situated in London's urban environment, the research argues that their listening experiences are more than what they can physically hear in their city of temporal residence. Being influenced by the auditory memories of homeland, their spatial, temporal and cross-cultural movements and interactions are perceived and negotiated through sounds. The sonic constellations that have formed from the past auditory experiences provide the necessary compass for navigating through London's soundscape.

Written in 2002:

During Nov 2002 and Jan 2003, I will be in Taiwan, my homeland. From Feb 2003, I will be in Paris, my dreamland. I will also travel back to London, my ‘careerland’ in 2003.
I plan to produce a travelogue. To begin with, I will produce a sound and an image every two weeks and present them on the website.