Moonlight City 月亮市

In the Soviet Union, a period of significant cultural and artistic repression, vinyl music records from Europe were strictly prohibited. However, the indomitable spirit of the people led to the invention of a unique and innovative method of creating and preserving music. People collected discarded X-rays from hospitals and repurposed them as makeshift records, etching grooves to produce playable music. These "bone records" stand as a testament to the resilience of human creativity in the face of censorship.

Drawing on the rich historical context of the Soviet Union era, our work acknowledges the challenges presented by strict censorship experienced worldwide, especially in China during the pandemic. For this project, we gathered lung X-rays of COVID-19 patients who have either succumbed to the virus or faced critical conditions. We created six soundtracks of the sound of COVID and etched them into these COVID lung X-rays as music records. The six soundtracks are Footsteps on Concrete, Spike Protein, Tracheal Scavenger, Mount Oblivion, Lucid Lake, and Beep Terminal. As you listen to these compositions, you will be immersed in the sounds of the pandemic, from people coughing and struggling to breathe to the relentless beeping of ICU monitors and the overwhelming influx of pandemic news.

Collaborators: Alice Shen, Bonsai Peng, FAN, Tonki, HB