Song and Sex: Before the RevolutionInstallation and performance series by Anh Vo at PARTICIPANT, INC.May-June, 2026
Song and Sex: Before the Revolution is the culmination of a year-long project during which Anh Vo apprenticed with Vũ Thuỳ Linh and Phạm Đình Hoằng, two master-musicians who specialize in Ca Trù. This dying form of northern Vietnamese chamber music, austere and trance-like, is built on intricate poetic meters and a striking interplay between voice, drum, and lute. In the 20th century, it was condemned and effectively banned by the Communist government because of its association with prostitution and opium culture.
It is not a reconstruction. It’s not preservation. It’s an attempt to sit
inside the ambivalence between inheritance and experimentation, devotion and
irreverence. – Anh Vo
I created a sound installation, “untitled (before),” for this exhibition, contributed live sound mixing for talks and performances, and was a collaborating performer for three of the seven “Resurrection” performances.