Te Magazine No.2 Song of the Nightingale

Te is an annual bilingual publication of contemporary art and cultural anthropology. Each issue expands on a selected theme that inspires us to invite practitioners in diverse fields to explore and reflect on the dynamic cultural landscapes across regions. Recurring motifs include the fluidity of cultures, languages, and beliefs in specific communities and the adaptation of individual narratives to the shifting social and geopolitical environment.The name te comes from the Hokkien pronunciation of "tea": [dæ]. The shifts in its sound are evidence of the globalizing forces in motion through human history: te traveled from Quanzhou, Fujian, along the Maritime Silk Routes to Europe, where it became "tea". Although the pronunciation of "tea" is alive as part of the global lingua franca, few have an idea of its etymology and or the interest to trace its evolution. Therefore, we hope to create a publication that embraces movement and fluidity. An essential condition of the contemporary, fluidity fosters cross-disciplinary practices that we aim to showcase through written words and images. We hope to delineate phenomena sprouting in the liminal space where cultural values, material advancements, individual and community aspirations, and institutional practices meet, often in misalignment.We never imagined that globalization aspirations would be so abruptly arrested by the cold realities of a pandemic. "Isolation" seems to be the only common vocabulary of our time. Stranded on individual islands, people feel besieged by flaring nationalist sentiments and ideological confrontations that exasperate through their screens. . If ideology is like a vast ocean, then te shall be a pebble thrown into the water. These subtle ripples are the responses and dialogues that ensue, informed by personal experiences and honest reflections, no matter how modest in reach, would be the reward we cherish.