about
A sound artist and curator based in Hong Kong, Karen Yu’s interests revolve around improvisation with sound objects and bodily movement, and how artistic practices and personal contributions could weave people together in a space through collaborations. With a background in contemporary percussion performance, Yu is the Artistic Director of Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong, the Co-Founder of the chamber percussion group, The Up:Strike Project, and an Associate Musician of Hong Kong New Music Ensemble.
Yu was most recently commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Centre & Castlefield Gallery (2022), Axel Vervoordt Gallery Hong Kong (2021), Hong Kong New Music Ensemble (2021), and Hong Kong West Kowloon Cultural District Freespace (2020). As an active performer, Yu has recently performed in manτεία (manteia; 2024), a multimedia performance built on AI tools as an act of divination directed by Peter Nelson and Roberto Trillo, Since When (2023), a multimedia theatre performance by Joyce Tang and Chow Yiu Fai, and Somnium (2022), an installation/opera/trance by Steve Hui. As a performance researcher, she works closely with a creative team of an ongoing research project at the Unlock Dancing Plaza to develop scores and notation as a medium and language for cross-disciplinary initiatives.
An artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre of Arts and Creativity (2017) and Seoul Dance Center (2023), and a fellow at the Blackbird Creative Lab (2018), Yu has also made appearances at the Biennale Montreal, Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong “Sound Forms” (2019, 2020), Hong Kong Sinfonietta @ Artistree “Notating Beauty That Moves” (2018), Hong Kong Arts Festival, Hong Kong Asian Film Festival (2024), Hong Kong New Vision Arts Festival, IRCAM ManiFeste Academy (2016), Oil Street Art Space, Para Site Art Space Hong Kong, Peer-to-Peer: UK/HK (2022), Percussive Arts Society Day of Percussion (Hong Kong, Montreal), SoundSCAPE New Music Festival (2017), Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts, Transplanted Roots Percussion Research Symposiums (Guanajuato, Brisbane, Montreal), Vertixe 12 Festival by Vertixe Sonora (2024) and West Kowloon Jazz Fest and Popfest (2023). As a performer, Yu has collaborated with a number of artists and musicians, including Omid Asadi, cehryl, Chan Hing Yan, Chow Yiu Fai, Olivier Cong, Jean-Pierre Drouet, Vinko Globokar, hirsk, Huang Ruo, Germaine Kruip, Lawrence Lau, Angus Lee, Joseph Lee, Philippe Leroux, Gaybird Leung, Daniel Lo, Steve Hui (NERVE), Marina Rosenfeld, Annika Socolofsky, Tan Dun, Zihua Tan, Joyce Tang, Michael Pisaro, Ken Ueno, and Kenny Wong. Her performances and interviews can be listened to on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Naxos Records, and Radio Television Hong Kong. Yu has given guest lectures at the City University of Hong Kong, Conservatorio Superior De Música De Vigo, Harvard Graduate Music Forum Conference, Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, Lingnan University, the Ubiquitous Music Conference 12 at University of Saint Joseph Macao, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Hong Kong.
As a curator, Yu has curated the latest edition of the annual sound festival in Hong Kong, Sound Forms, as part of the HICCUP festival co-presented with Tai Kwun Contemporary in 2024 and the three previous editions. She has also co-curated the annual UNHEARD sound and music festivals with Eaton Hong Kong and _dtby, and the Noise Fest at Freespace West Kowloon. Devoted to promoting sound art and sound pedagogy, she has recently created a sound art educational initiative through Contemporary Musiking Hong Kong, Push the ENVELOPE, that aims to diversify our listening approaches and cultivate interests in sound-making as art-making.
Karen Yu received her Master of Music and Bachelor of Music in Music Performance (Percussion) from McGill University under the guidance of Professor Aiyun Huang and Fabrice Marandola. Her studies at McGill University were fully supported by the Schulich Graduate Fellowship. Her projects have been supported by the Centre of Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology, Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, and Hong Kong Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau. Yu is currently a part time lecturer at the School of Theatre & Entertainment Arts of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and an instrument instructor at the University of Hong Kong.
Aside from being a full time sound-maker, Karen is a sour beer enthusiast.
Top Photo by Jesse Clockwork
關於
余林橞 (Karen Yu) 是一位居於香港的聲音藝術家和策劃人，她的興趣圍繞著以發聲物件和身體動作的即興演出，以及不同的藝術實踐和個人經驗及歷史如何透過合作將人們在空間裏連結。擁有當代敲擊樂背景的余氏，目前擔任現在音樂的藝術總監、室內樂敲擊樂團The Up:Strike Project的共同創辦人，以及香港創樂團的聯席樂手。
余林橞多方面展現活躍演奏家的一面，最近獲邀的委約作品及演出包括香港藝術中心及曼城Castlefield Gallery的跨地域演出，在杰曼．克瑞普於維伍德畫廊的個展Screenplay中演出的三部聲音演出、香港創樂團 Sonic Ecology 網上研討會的委託創作及西九龍文化區自由空間的創作：舞・樂互碰。對跨媒介和即興演出感興趣的余氏，最近於鄧慧中及周耀輝的多媒體劇場作品《從甚麼時候開始》 (2023)、許敖山的裝置/歌劇/迷睡作品《Somnium》（2022）和梁基爵的沉浸式劇場作品《仍...息在零地》（2021）中為主要表演者。從2021年起，熱衷於表演文化研究的她與不加鎖舞踴館的創意團隊密切合作，進行樂譜和記譜法作為跨媒介合作中的創作語言的研究項目。
於2023年在首爾舞蹈中心、2018年於 Blackbird Creative Lab 及2017年在加拿大班夫創意藝術中心 (Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity)為駐場藝術家，余林橞過去亦曾於下列單位演出：蒙特利爾雙年節、現在音樂「聲形 – 多聲道聲音藝術節」 2019 及 2020 、自由爵士音樂節、香港小交響樂團 ArtisTree 駐場計劃 「Notating Beauty That Moves」、香港藝術節、香港亞洲電影節、香港新視野藝術節、法國巴黎IRCAM ManiFeste Academy、油街實現、Para Site 藝術空間、Peer-to-Peer: UK/HK、Percussive Arts Society 有關活動（美國印第安纳波利斯、加拿大蒙特利爾及香港）、意大利馬卡尼奧SoundSCAPE New Music Festival、大館當代美術館、Transplanted Roots 敲擊樂研討會（澳洲布里斯本、墨西哥瓜納華托及加拿大蒙特利爾)、由西班牙現代音樂室樂團 Vertixe Sonora策劃的Vertixe 12 Festival以及西九 Popfest 音樂節。曾與余林橞合作的藝術家及音樂家包括 Omid Asadi、 cehryl 、陳慶恩、周耀輝、江逸天、Jean-Pierre Drouet、Vinko Globokar、hirsk、Germaine Kruip、黃若、劉曉江、李一韋、李偉能、 Philippe Leroux、梁基爵、盧定彰、許敖山 (腦科)、Marina Rosenfeld、Annika Socolofsky、Zihua Tan、鄧慧中、Michael Pisaro、上野健和黃智銓。她的室內樂演奏錄音及訪問可於加拿大廣播公司、香港電台及拿索斯唱片重溫。過往亦曾於哈佛大學音樂研究院研討會、香港城市大學、香港演藝學院、香港浸會大學、嶺南大學、澳門聖若瑟大學 Ubiquitous 音樂研討會、加州大學柏克萊分校和香港大學進行演講。
余林橞策劃了共四屆，由現在音樂和大館當代美術館共同呈獻的年度「聲形」聲音藝術節，包括最近成為 「HICCUP」 一部分的「聲形2024」。作為共同策劃人的身分也策劃了共三屆與香港逸東酒店及_dtby合辦的UNHEARD sound and music festival和香港西九藝術文化區自由空間的Noise Fest 2024。她致力於推廣聲音藝術和聲音藝術教育，最近透過現在音樂策劃了《推信封聲音藝術推廣計畫》，旨在打破傳統觀念，以藝術創作及跨界合作的媒介重新認識聲音。
余林橞畢業於加拿大蒙特利爾麥基爾大學，在 Aiyun Huang 教授及 Fabrice Marandola 教授的指導下獲得她的音樂學士和碩士學位。除了專注於當代古典敲擊樂演出，她亦擁有六年演奏傳統樂器如印度塔布拉鼓的豐富經驗。她在麥基爾大學的攻讀由 Schulich Graduate Scholarship 全額資助，而她過往策劃的創作項目曾經由多個機構資助，包括 The Centre of Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology 、香港藝術發展局、香港創樂團和香港文化體育及旅遊局。余氏現任教於香港大學音樂系及香港演藝學院舞台及製作藝術學院。
除了聲音外，余林橞亦是酸啤酒愛好者。