Lina Choi

Artist in Residency | February 2024
Lina Choi  is a Montreal-based artist who majored in sculpture at the Royal College of Art in London, UK.
In her current artistic research, she explores aural imagery through performance and installation, focusing on creating sound. She seeks immersive sensory, and meditative projects that encourage audiences to interact with her work. She also tries to understand how the identity of individual humans is located in societies.
She has recently participated in the Est-Nord-Est residency in 2023 for her research of water. Her sound project <Under the Waves> has been presented at DARE-DARE in Montreal and Sporobole in Sherbrooke with the PIVOT program curated by the Canadian League of Composers. 
In 2022, she presented her sound performances at OBORO and RIPA in Montreal and her sound installation was exhibited for Poste Audio at Centre Clark in Montreal.

Photo credits: Galadriel Avon

Artistic Statement and Residency Project

ARTISTIC STATEMENT |

“I make sounds of water. I explore sounds from rivers to streams, the ocean, rain, and deep underwater.

My fundamental question is ‘Why do humans have a desire of listening to water?’ Water has various symbols; it can be a source of life, a feeling of peace, and a symbol of purification, but also it could be a feeling of fear and anxiety or uncertainty. It is very interesting that water can represent so many different emotions, and even completely opposite feelings.

When I participated in River of Oblivion (Seoul Innovation Park, Seoul, Korea, 2016), I came across Gaston Bachelard’s book L’eau et les rêves (Water and Dreams, 1942). Bachelard discusses the various forms of water. That is where I got the title for one of my works and that is where I started being curious of water.

I believe that we feel relaxed from water which may be from our experience in our mother’s womb. We may naturally remember the feeling of comfort when we were cushioned by the womb water. During the performance “Water and Dreams” (2022) that was improvised with various sounds of water, a new-born baby was listening to the sounds very calmly without being scared. This made me think of the fetus in the womb. He might still have the memory or feeling from the time in his mother’s womb.”

Lina Choi, 2024

RESIDENCY PROJECT |

“I have kept wondering as to how underwater sounds can be heard in a spatial way, so that the sound coming from every direction makes listeners feel as if they are surrounded by water, inside of water or floating on water. During the residency, I wish to explore 3-dimensional surround sound. The project starts with field recordings of wintery water sounds along the Ottawa River, Gatineau River, and Ruisseau de la Brasserie. It also includes some experiments in creating an immersive soundscape that I can show with a performance.”

-Lina Choi, 2024

Lina will be working on her residency project at the Centre de production DAÏMÔN between February 14th and March 17th 2024. She will be giving and Artist Talk about her current work on Saturday March 16th between 2:00 and 4:00 PM. More details to come.