Hui-Ying Tsai, Jonathan Grover

Mother

2019, mixed media, custom electronics, foraged rocks, 45” x 48” x 23”

Mother is an interactive sculpture that sings soothingly in Mandarin to any viewer approaching its shell. In previous installations, the piece sang fragments of two Taiwanese lullabies that Hui-Ying Tsai’s grandmother sang to her as a child. For this iteration, Tsai composed her own original lullaby. Sound artist Jonathan Grover managed the electronics, programming, and sound mixing for the piece. The rocks were respectfully gathered from sites in Philadelphia and Delaware County and were returned after the exhibition.