Sung Tieu

Sung Tieu’s work is inspired by her personal experiences, global history and destroyed cultural traditions. Mostly focusing on Post-Cold War histories and diaspora.

Her minimal and yet immersive sound and video installations, sculptures, performances and public interventions result from her research into state-imposed power structures, working through and with spatial dislocation while paying attention to the exhibition as a complex space of sensorial experience.  

Her recent installations include What is your |x|? at Emalin, Zugzwang at Haus der Kunst and In Cold Print at Nottingham Contemporary.

I found her talk about sonic weapons used in past wars extremely fascinating, due to my lack of exposure in this field.

Operation: Wandering Soul

Operation Wandering Soul was a large scale propaganda campaign and psychological warfare attempt used by the US during the Vietnam war.

The US military hoped that this operation would weaken the morale of the Viet-Cong, using their fears and culture against them. The Vietnamese culture has rituals to respect the dead. For example, if someone does not receive a proper burial, it is believed their soul will continue to wander the earth, becoming a wandering soul. These souls can sometimes be contacted on the anniversary of their death and near where they died. Vietnamese honour these dead souls on a holiday when they return to the site where they died.

The US attempted to use this, playing audio recordings of their dead friends wandering around to trick them. They created these eerie, distorted voices and sounds all on tape, dubbed Ghost Tape Number Ten. This tape was played on loudspeakers outside US bases and helicopters were also deployed to broadcast these recordings, with voices telling them to stop.

The operation had moderate success at the start, but had no results later in its use.

Havana syndrome

Havana syndrome is a peculiar phenomenon where citizens around Havana hear a relentless form of infrasound that damages their brain. This is believed to be a form of sound warfare on the recently moved in US officials in Havana. But this strange occurrence has never been solved, meaning this could be a natural sound.

one theory suggests this was a terrorist attack using a microwave weapon from an unknown source. This could explain why it targeted American officials in multiple countries but has not been proven.