Personal Information
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Given name: Mo









Surname: Zhou









Email: m.zhou0320256@arts.ac.uk









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Your contribution
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Title: Between the Lines: Sonic Heterotopias and Minoritised Voices in Narrative Public Art









Format: Project presentation (2)









Main language: English









Abstract:
This project presentation introduces an ongoing practice-based doctoral research that investigates how minoritised and endangered forms of everyday knowledge—such as vernacular speech, family voices, and affective memory—can be activated through narrative public art as artistic research. Focusing on sonic and relational practices beyond the purely verbal, the research explores how voice operates as an epistemic medium through which experiences of otherness, distance, and belonging are made perceptible in public space.
The presentation centres on Between the Lines, a participatory sound installation developed across culturally specific sites in the UK and China. By employing public telephones as interfaces, the work invites participants to listen to intimate greetings spoken in a hometown dialect and to contribute their own spoken reflections on moments of being culturally “out of place.” These exchanges foreground forms of knowledge that are often overlooked, unarchived, or rendered invisible—domestic speech, oral memory, and emotionally charged vocal expressions—while situating them within a shared public environment.
Rather than treating language as information, the project approaches voice as an embodied, temporal, and affective practice that exceeds full articulation. Through listening and speaking, participants engage with forms of knowing that are sensed rather than fully explained, revealing how sonic practices can sustain endangered conceptual worlds embedded in everyday life. Methodologically, the research employs participatory action research, positioning artistic practice as an iterative mode of inquiry in which participants contribute to the ongoing formation of meaning.
The presentation reflects on how narrative public art can operate as a heterotopic space for the negotiation of minoritised voices and examines the role of sonic artistic research in making fragile, situated knowledges audible within contemporary visual, sonic, and digital cultures.










Link to the Exposition :  (https://www.researchcatalogue.net/shared/cab78c7a0646dddfa32a207b4f83ca78)









Image: https://test.sar2026.ie/system/files/webform/submit_contribution/412/Between%20the%20Lines_Mo%20Zhou.jpg









Short biographies of the presenter(s):
- Mo Zhou is a practice-based PhD researcher at London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. Her research explores otherness, minoritised voices, and narrative public art through site-specific, participatory interventions across the UK and China. Working with sound, installation, and spatial interactions, her practice investigates how local stories and collective memory can be activated as artistic research within shared public spaces.










Previous presentations or iterations of the research:
Earlier iterations of Between the Lines have been exhibited in academic and gallery contexts as part of the author’s doctoral research. Related aspects of the broader research have been submitted to international conferences in art and humanities contexts. The SAR presentation focuses specifically on the project’s sonic, minoritised, and non-verbal dimensions as artistic research.














Requirements
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Additional information:
The presentation will combine visual documentation, sound excerpts, and reflective commentary. Short audio fragments from the installation will be used to illustrate how voice operates as an embodied and affective form of knowledge within the work. The presentation emphasises process, iteration, and artistic decision-making rather than fixed outcomes, and will invite discussion on how sonic practices can articulate endangered conceptual worlds beyond the verbal.










Spatial and technical requirements :
Standard presentation setup is sufficient. Audio playback capability (speakers) is required for short sound excerpts. No live performance or complex installation setup is needed.










Potential risks or ethical concerns:
This project involves voluntary public participation through listening and spoken contributions. All recordings are anonymous, non-identifiable, and collected with informed consent. Participants may withdraw at any point. The research follows institutionally approved ethical protocols, with particular attention to care, consent, and the non-instrumentalisation of participants’ voices.










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