沉沒的聲音 The Sound of Sinking

 沉沒的聲音 The Sound of Sinking

混合實境、聲納裝置、六頻道錄像裝置 

Mixed-reality, sonar installation, six-channel installation. 

混合實境長度45分鐘；錄像裝置版本片長14分30秒 

Mixed-reality version duration: 45 min. Video installation version runtime: 14’30”. 2025

本計畫於臺北市立美術館「北美館開放網絡計畫」發表展出

This project was invited to present at Taipei Fine Arts Museum in the exhibition, “TFAM Net.Open｜The Sound of Sinking”.

The Sound of Sinking (2022–25) is an interdisciplinary project combining underwater archaeology, acoustics, and virtual reality. It extends from a series of archaeology-inspired works that Hsu Chia-Wei has pursued with archaeologists since 2018, shifting from land excavations to sites beneath the sea.

The work focuses on three wrecks near Penghu: the Guangbing/Kohei from the First Sino-Japanese War, and the Yamafuji Maru and Mansei Maru from World War II. These two wars, fifty years apart, mark turning points in Taiwan’s history. In collaboration with the Research Center for Underwater Archaeology and Heritage at National Tsing Hua University, Hsu filmed the team’s underwater operations at the Yamafuji Maru site and incorporated research outcomes from both underwater and battlefield archaeology.

The project records real actions at the wrecks, combining archaeological procedures with sonic experiments. Using sonar and hydrophones together with divers performing on custom-built instruments, it stages an acoustic dialogue with the ships.

The exhibition is presented as a mixed-reality environment. Participants enter a networked space and encounter visual and sonic performances: the improvisational singing of the Penghu ballad thó-hái-kua, environmental soundscapes from the wrecks, sonar signals adapted from Qing dynasty naval music, live mixing on the sea’s surface, underwater instrumental performance, and wartime military music performed by digital avatars.

They begin in a multi-channel video installation showing underwater archaeology and sonic creation, accompanied by the singing of thó-hái-kua by an elder from Wang-an, Penghu. The space then submerges:  participants take on avatars, board a virtual vessel, and travel through an unknown underwater port, a ship graveyard strewn with fragments, and a twilight scene of wrecks, vessels, and instruments. Finally, the virtual world collapses in a surge of sound, dissolving into floating digital fragments scattered across the gallery.

When the headsets are removed, what remains are images of the desolate wrecks and sonar devices suspended around the space, emitting high-frequency signals underwater. The experience shifts between video, sound, and sculpture, unfolding a journey from south to north across both physical and virtual realms.

《沉沒的聲音》是2022年至2025年間所發展的結合水下考古、水下聲學與虛擬實境技術的跨領域創作。該計畫延續自許家維與考古學家自2018年起進行的一系列以考古作為啟發的創作，並從陸地考古轉而關注水下考古。

 

本作品以甲午戰爭時期的「廣丙艦」，以及二戰時期的「山藤丸」與「滿星丸」等澎湖周邊海域沉船為創作主軸，這些沉船正是有關於相隔五十年的兩場戰爭，也是臺灣歷史的轉捩點。許家維工作室與國立清華大學的「水下考古學暨水下文化資產研究中心」合作，實地拍攝考古隊於沉船「山藤丸」現場的水下作業過程，並在創作中參考考古學的研究成果。這些內容既是水下考古學，也是戰爭考古學的一環。

 

這件作品拍攝的是一場在沉船處的真實行動，包含水下考古以及一連串聲響創作的工作過程。透過聲納與水下錄音技術，結合表演者潛入海中所演奏的特殊聲音裝置，構築出一場與沉船進行聲響對話的場景。

 

展覽現場以MR混合實境的方式呈現；當參與者進入多人連線的作品場域中，將經歷不同形式的視覺與聲響演出——包括澎湖褒歌《討海歌》的即興彈唱、沉船海域的環境聲景採集、由清朝水師軍樂轉化而成的聲納訊號、在海面上的即時混音、水下樂器演奏、以及由參與者的數位替身所演出的二戰軍樂等交織成的表演。

 

參與者首先進入的是展覽現場的多頻道錄像裝置：螢幕呈現了水下考古與聲響創作的工作過程，並伴隨著澎湖望安耆老所彈唱的《討海歌》樂音。接著，展覽現場沒入水中，參與者化身成不同的數位替身，搭乘虛擬船在一座不知名的海下碼頭遊歷。隨著船的航行，參與者將歷經佈滿沉船碎片的船隻墳場，以及由沉船文物、船艦與樂器構成的黃昏場景。最終，這些虛擬實境場景在激烈的聲響中崩解，化為展覽現場漂浮的數位碎片。

 

卸下頭盔，看到的是海下孤寂的沉船現況影像，與懸掛在展場四周的真實聲納裝置；聽到的是浸泡在水中的聲納所發射的高頻率訊號聲。這是場在錄像、聲響與雕塑展形式之間切換的體驗，在實體展場和虛擬場景間，展開一段從南方航向北方的旅程。