2022
Performance with sculpture in exhibition room 1 at the academy fine art in Münster,
Steel rod, insect screen
Diameter: 126 cm
2 hours
The being remains still inside a sphere or struggles to crawl through the holes of spheres made of insect screen mesh. Each sphere has a hole of a different size. The being (the performer) closes their eyes and ears, moving intuitively, as if longing for a better, more ideal place, until they become exhausted. Only the audience can observe the performer.
The motivation for this work stems from my personal experience with a hole in my shoes—shoes I had bought in my home country. However, after arriving in Germany, a hole gradually formed in them, and I continued wearing them for months. In my home country, I would have never worn such shoes.
This work is also rooted in my personal journey—how and why I moved from South Korea to Germany—and the desire to relocate to another city or return to my homeland. However, the spheres, the holes, and the process of moving from one sphere to another or simply staying within one can be interpreted differently by each viewer. The work raises questions about belonging and nomadism in human existence.
Furthermore, I hope this piece can be viewed in a transcendental context, as the being struggles through the holes, crawling back and forth. I sought to represent a society in which a person exists, perceives their surroundings, and navigates challenges in order to survive.
Nonetheless, the work allows for multiple perspectives. The spheres may not only represent society but also a home, a hermit crab’s shell, or even a person’s soul, thoughts, or inner world. Likewise, the being that remains within the spheres can be perceived in different ways, depending on the viewer’s interpretation.