Art as Translation
Yellow-breasted Flycatcher (Machaerirhynchus flaviventer) illustrated by Elizabeth Gould
In this Library Chat, filmed during their fellowship at the Institute for Ideas and Imagination in 2022-23, John Phan, Pauchi Sasaki, and Melina León explore the concept of “art as translation.” They focus on how artistic collaboration mirrors the translation process, discussing the similarities between translating languages and artistic expression. Both involve transforming and interpreting ideas into new forms through collaborative efforts.
John Phan is an assistant professor in the Department of East Asian Languages & Cultures, at Columbia University. His research focuses on the linguistic history of Vietnam and China, as well as the development of Vietnamese vernacular literature over the early modern period. He is particularly interested in the effects of multilingualism in single societies, especially the coincidence of non-spoken literary languages alongside a variety of vernacular spoken languages with oral literary traditions. Phan’s forthcoming book, to be published by Harvard Asia Center Press, is entitled Lost Tongues of the Red River: Annamese Middle Chinese and the Origins of the Vietnamese Language. His current project focuses on the transformation of vernacular Vietnamese language, as it was adapted over the early modern period from a purely spoken medium, into a new vehicle for written literary expression.
Pauchi Sasaki is a composer, performer, and improviser who recreates intimate subjective landscapes through electro-acoustic sonorities, influenced by improvisational aesthetics and ethnic musical traditions. Her film scores appear in more than thirty feature and short films. She received three “Best Original Score” international awards, and the Ibermúsicas Latin American grant for sound composition with new technologies at CMMAS. Her work has been presented at the Tokyo Experimental Festival, Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, The Kitchen, Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Hall, the MET, the Venice Biennale, and the Gran Teatro Nacional del Perú, among other venues.
Melina León is a Peruvian film director. Her debut feature, Canción sin Nombre (Song without a Name), premiered at Cannes Director’s Fortnight 2019, becoming the first film by a Peruvian female filmmaker to be invited to Cannes. The film was nominated for Best Iberoamerican Feature at the Goya Awards 2022 and was Peru’s Oscar Entry for Best International Feature. Song without a Name has been selected in over 100 international film festivals and has won several awards including Best Director at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, Best Film at the Stockholm Film Festival, among others.
