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
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
might have been dissolved into the water,
flowing from there to here, from then to now,
taken into our bodies, haunting us,
saying,
I am here,
all along
with us, before us,
in us*
all along
with us, before us,
in us*
Flowing Violence: meet me at the water, immersive video installation
흐르는 폭력: 물에서 만나요, 몰입형 비디오 설치
3-channel video (4K color, stereo). 9’ 09”. 2024
A video component of the installation is a 3-channel video, meet me at the water (2024), of which title is borrowed from the title of Kim’s poem written for the video. The video consists of distinct perspectives: high-angle shots and underwater shots of the Huron River near the artist’s residence. These represent two views: one of humans living their everyday lives, and the other of violence, which may flow beneath the surface—quietly but constantly.
The seemingly peaceful river carries faint, almost invisible traces of blood and ashes. As the voice in the video whispers and recites a poem revealing American imperialist violence in Asia, the camera begins to travel underwater, where the blood and ashes visibly mingle and dissolve into the river’s flow. The video invites the audience to feel submerged, flowing alongside these particles, and to connect with a silenced tragedy carried by the water.
Directed by Okyoung Noh
Poem by Kyunghee Kim
Filmed by Okyoung Noh, Ben Zink
Edited by Okyoung Noh
Music by Chien-An Yuan
Installation advised by Joe Rohrer
Voice by Kyunghee Kim, Leah Crosby, Okyoung Noh
The seemingly peaceful river carries faint, almost invisible traces of blood and ashes. As the voice in the video whispers and recites a poem revealing American imperialist violence in Asia, the camera begins to travel underwater, where the blood and ashes visibly mingle and dissolve into the river’s flow. The video invites the audience to feel submerged, flowing alongside these particles, and to connect with a silenced tragedy carried by the water.
Directed by Okyoung Noh
Poem by Kyunghee Kim
Filmed by Okyoung Noh, Ben Zink
Edited by Okyoung Noh
Music by Chien-An Yuan
Installation advised by Joe Rohrer
Voice by Kyunghee Kim, Leah Crosby, Okyoung Noh
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. 2024
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.
The 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
The 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
*an excerpt of the poem,
meet me at the water (2024)