Photos by Dulub Studio
笙聲生（shēng shēng shēng）／Sheng Rebirth (2025)
What happens to an instrument when its voice dies? In Sheng Rebirth, discarded instruments are made into vessels for transformation and memory.
Over four months, Steve Parker collected instruments from Taipei's flea markets and recycling centers. He found broken shengs (笙), guzhengs (古筝), and a ruan (阮) — instruments that had once sung with the breath and touch of musicians. He reanimated them with dried plant matter, recordings of tree frogs, and small DC motors.
These instruments now speak with new voices. Joining the ensemble is the Taipei tree frog. Also a product of metamorphosis, the frog serves as an oracle, its call carrying songs of past and future ecological health. Guest musicians from Taipei and viewer interaction complete the work by activating the sculptures.
Sheng Rebirth is situated in the mythological forest. This is the site for tales of transformation across cultures: where Eastern nobles meditate among sacred trees and Western heroes enter the wilderness to emerge changed. The musical instruments in the exhibition channel these narratives of metamorphosis. Unlike the phoenix's dramatic ascent, these rebirths emerge softly, through strange, delicate sounds their mkers never intended.
Drawing from the mythical origins of the sheng, Sheng Rebirth explores the paradox of the phoenix legend: To be reborn, one must first embrace death and abandonment.
Transformation rarely arrives through spectacle. Instead it unfolds through the slow, deliberate act of reassembling what remains.
Sincere thanks to King Car Cultural Center, Asian Cultural Council, and Fulbright for supporting this project.
