Flowing Violence: and be our body, multi-sensory installation
흐르는 폭력: 그리고 한 몸으로, 멀티센서리 설치
a drink dispenser filled with water with hints of iron and smoke, blue gel light filter, fog with scent of blood and ashes, dimensions variable, Dec 2024
<흐르는 폭력 Flowing Violence>은 한국계 미국인 시인 김경희와의 협업으로 제작된 멀티센서리(multi-sensory) 설치 작업이다. 시간과 국경을 초월하는 전지구적 물의 흐름과 연결되어 함께 흐르는 폭력을 다룬다. 한국전쟁 학살 희생자들을 태운 재, 한강에 갓난 아기와 투신하려던 할머니의 피눈물, 그리고 현재 이루어지는 폭력의 현장에서 흐르는 모든 잔여물들이 흘러 ‘우리’의 몸에 닿는 순간을 상상하도록 이끈다.
Flowing Violence (2024) is a multimedia installation made in collaboration with Korean American poet Kyunghee Kim. It invites the audience to imagine how silenced violence may flow with water, reaching the land and the bodies we live in, transcending borders and time.
The average speed of water molecules is around hundred meters per second in an open space. We are 70 percent water and about 98 percent of all the atoms in our body are replaced every year. We are in constant flow. The flow of water, the flow of life, the flow of history, and maybe, the flow of violence.
the blood and ashes of a few hundred civilian refugees, who were massacred by American armies under the No Gun Ri Bridge during the Korean War,
and ‘the tears of blood’ (피눈물) that my grandmother shed, while dragging her two babies to Han River to commit family suicide after the war,
and more
and ‘the tears of blood’ (피눈물) that my grandmother shed, while dragging her two babies to Han River to commit family suicide after the war,
and more
might have been dissolved into the water,
flowing from there to here, from then to now,
taken into our bodies, haunting us,
and be our body
The installation component of the work, and be our body (2024), features fog and drinkable water in a fountain which is commonly used in a party or celebration in the United States. Upon entering, the audience feels the fog immediately absorbed into their skin. This fog carries a layered scent of blood, smoke, bullets, and burnt ashes. The audience is encouraged to drink the water, which contains iron supplements and liquid smoke. These subtle yet palpable hints of violence, represented through different forms of water, surround and circulate within the bodies of the audience – everyday, and therefore, inevitably. In this way, the audience becomes an integral part of the flow, sensing that their bodies are intertwined with the flow of violence.
Installation by Okyoung Noh
Scent layerd by Roland Derin Deschain
Work inspired by a conversation with Seunga You
Scent layerd by Roland Derin Deschain
Work inspired by a conversation with Seunga You