마음의 집 THE HOUSE OF MAUM
Sound Art, Sound Installation
SOSIL SPACE 3rd Exhibiton 2024 : Homecoming
EEAMS (Ewha Electro-Acoustic Music Studio)
August 4 - 9, 2024
3D printed PLA object, headphones,
and research documents
<The House of the Maum> begins with the idea that the people I form relationships with exist within my heart as different shapes of houses, and that the memories between these relationships exist as sounds. This exhibition introduces three houses, representing the relationships of three generations: my grandfather, my father, and myself.
The texts used as sound materials come from my grandfather's handwritten Dongwon Diary (東源日記), which my grandfather wrote daily from the time of father’s birth until his first year, as well as from videos, writings, and the birth certificate my father left for me. Additionally, I used AI-generated voice, which was trained using my father's voice.
By digitizing the Dongwon Diary, which mixes Korean, Chinese characters, and English, the process of me, as an adult, observing my father’s infancy through my grandfather’s writings allows me to view a person from multiple perspectives, leading to healing. It is like how my grandmother, who appeared infinitely strong to me, now seems like a fragile mother who gave birth at a young age. Also, as I imagine grandfather’s memories with my father through writing, I unexpectedly find myself overlapping those memories with my own with my father. This is similar to the Family Constellations therapy developed by German psychologist Bert Hellinger. Family Constellations views psychological, physical, and interpersonal conflicts as stemming from entanglements within the family unconscious, and focuses on understanding and adjusting the family system as a whole to solve individual problems.
For reference, my grandfather passed away just before I was born. He was from Haeju, Hwanghae Province, and fled to the South, experiencing significant historical events in Korea, such as the Japanese occupation and the Korean War.
The Dongwon Diary is the only way I can meet my grandfather, a figure I never saw or heard, almost like an unknown person.