DATE: Wednesday, December 6, 2023
TIME: 18:30 – 20:00
LOCATION: SIN 1, at the Department for East Asian Studies/Chinese Studies, Altes AKH, Campus, Spitalgasse 2, Yard 2, Entrance 2.3

If you just look at the weight of goods traded and the number of people travelling, the Silk Road was one of the roads with less traffic in history. The Silk Road changes history in large part because the people who have traveled along it spread their various cultures along the way. 

---The Silk Road: A New History. Valerie Hansen 

The culture of the ancient Silk Road was driven by the power of communication and integration that people formed during their migration. Silk Road Songbook (hereinafter, SRS) is a unique crossculture, multi-media, socially driven art project jointly initiated by artists Millie Chen (Canada) and Arzu Ozkal (U.S.). The project integrates songs into the diversified natural landscape of Eurasian countries along the Silk Road. The unique and independent voices transmitted in ancient Eurasia mainly on the migration routes, challenge the oriental exoticism and traditional tourism industry’s clichés. It also challenges "Silk Road" macro narrative tendency by conveying the individual stories of SRS. The project works are composed of audio-visual devices and folk songs from various places along the Silk Road. Songs are channels for us to collectively remember, hold on and speak out. Songs have a moving power to promote people to speak out, to pessimism into optimism. In working with teams from different countries, SRS not only tells their stories, but also shows the meaning of our existence today. Recalling the stories of our respective ancestors and immigrants along the Silk Road traces a narrative that is personal, historical and political.

For more information, please refer to the attached PDF