Sea Art Fastival 2023 Artist

Eunhae Jung
Canada
Place of activity

Republic of Korea, Jeju

Text about the artist.

Eunhae Jung is an artist who dabbles in various fields, from ecological art and community art to art therapy and today’s environmental movement. Her work explores the ecological self, which is experienced when humans connect with nature, and follows the imagination that this connection leads to. With themes and questions such as “How do we embrace both despair and hope through art in times of climate crisis?” and “How do we embrace the suffering we have caused?” she works with people in the forests and seas of Jeju Island.

Instagram
@plasticmandala
Zune Lee
Republic of Korea
Place of activity

Republic of Korea, Seoul

Text about the artist.

Zune Lee finds newness by overlapping and converging various fields. Lee has been delving into the changing times for the past 20 years, concentrating on the interaction and co-evolution of nature, humans, and machines through data science, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and augmented reality techniques. With a focus on multidisciplinary research, creation, and education, Lee has been invited to participate in leading domestic and international exhibitions, such as ISEA International, the Seoul International Media Art Biennale (now the Seoul Mediacity Biennale), and Translife: International Triennial of New Media Art. With five solo exhibitions, he has also participated in artist-in-residence programs at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Art Center Nabi, and the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand.

ARTWORK
<Plastic Mandala: A Pattern for the Cycle of Life>

2023, Mixed media, Dimension variable.
Plastic Mandala - Earth Resonance, 2023, Ocean plastic trash, Dimension variable (Circular structure: 100×100cm).
Earth-Human Resonance Pattern, 2023, Single-channel digital motion graphics, 1920×1080 pixel.
Plastic Mandala Resonance Audio-Visualizer, 2023, Sound system, computer, data collectors, 60×60×50cm.
All Commissioned by Sea Art Festival 2023.

Eunhae Jung and Zune Lee have collaborated on this installation creating mandala patterns from small and micro-ocean plastics generating visualizations of the earth’s frequency. The plastic fragments have been collected from Hamden beach on Jeju island, in five years of activity collecting ocean plastics with volunteers and members of ECOOROT, an eco-art organization founded by Eunhae Jung. The mandala patterns here are generated using the Schumann Resonance - a series of resonating electromagnetic waves, driven by lightning activity, also known as the Earth’s “heartbeat” or “hum”. Thunderstorms roll over Earth producing about 50 flashes of lightning per second and creating electromagnetic waves captured between the Earth’s surface and the ionosphere. Some of these waves combine to create a repeating atmospheric heartbeat or the Schumann resonance, an extremely low frequency at an average of 7.83 Hz. Scientists have discovered that variations in the resonances correspond to changes in the seasons, solar activity, or activity in Earth's magnetic environment and other Earth-bound phenomena. There are theories that the earth’s vibrations are rising which can cause us anxiety, and although there is not hard scientific evidence for this, this theory emphasizes that we are most calm when our brain waves overlaps with the earth’s vibration, so maybe, the Schumann Resonance is a reminder of our connection and close relationship with the Earth. Eunhae, since her childhood, wondered what this ever-present low sound was, which she was able to hear when everything else was quiet, but recently realized that many people can’t hear it. Eunhae and the ECOOROT participants kneeling on the sand, stroking it with repetitive moves collecting microplastics while hearing the ocean sounds in the background, become part of a visceral experience that feels like a ritual or prayer. In the mother’s womb, the sound was experienced through tactile receptors. Sound was the touch. The inspiration of Plastic Mandala came from the Tibetan Buddhist ceremony, where monks create a beautiful and colorful sand mandala for days to weeks, and when it’s complete, they dismantle it. Then they carry the sand, blessed and now blessing itself, and pour it into a nearby stream of water so that it will be flown into the ocean and to all living beings connected through the one ocean that connects us all. The artwork expresses a sense of despair facing our plastic culture and the wish to bless the ocean by taking plastic out of the ocean. The artwork is complete when it is dismantled. It will not be turned into something new, useful, or permanent. You can watch a video from a Plastic Mandala made by ECOOROT participants here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjd1t9OWC2I&t=302s

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포레스트 커리큘럼은 남아시아와 동남아시아를 잇는 삼림지대 조미아의 자연문화를 통한 인류세 비평을 주로 연구합니다. 작품 유랑하는 베스티아리는 이 연구의 일환으로, 비인간적 존재들이 근대 국민국가에 내재된 계급적이고 세습적인 폭력과 그에 따른 잔재들에 어떻게 대항해왔는지를 보여주는 작품입니다. 좌중을 압도하는 듯한 거대한 깃발들은 위태롭고도 불안하게 스스로를 지탱하고 있는 듯 보입니다. 깃발에는 벤조인이나 아편부터 동아시아 신화에 등장하는 동물들까지 비인간 존재들을 상징하는 대상들이 그려져 있습니다. 각 깃발들은 비인간적 존재들의 대표자로서 모두가 한데 결합되어 아상블라주 그 자체를 표상합니다. 또한 깃발들과 함께 설치된 사운드 작품은 방콕과 파주에서 채집된 고음역대의 풀벌레 소리, 인도네시아의 경주용 비둘기들의 소리, 지방정부 선거를 앞두고 재정 부패를 유지하기 위한 수단으로 쓰이는 불필요한 공사에서 발생하는 소음, 그리고 위의 소리들을 찾아가는데 사용된 질문들과 조건들을 읽어 내려가는 내레이션으로 이루어져 있습니다.

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