sitnaltA: First Sound - Sonic Performance with Sculptural Instruments

Betty C. Fan’s sonic performance, First Sound, offers a spiritual and transcendent experience in the fictional “undersea sanctuary” of Chimeras. Fan chants and improvises with hand-built sculptural instruments made from metal sheets, mixed clay, fabrics, and rice.  The performance takes on a ritualistic force; its alternating surges of intensity and meditative melody resonate like the rumble of the earth and the murmur of running water. Through these sonic gestures, Fan draws the audience into an imagined sanctuary where artificial and organic beings coevolve into new forms of life.

Betty C Fan is a London-based artist working across sculpture, sound, and performance to explore the relationship between sonic environments, spatial memory, and cultural identity. She constructs fictional soundscapes drawn from urban noise like engines, voices, rustling leaves, and translates them into sculptural instruments and performances. Her work investigates the tension between structure and fluidity, reflecting the complexities of transnational experience and the impermanence of place. Fan holds an MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art, a Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt Institute, and a Master of Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University.