라온, 너는 어디에.

Do You Know the WOOJOOLO[Cosmic Road]?

WOOJOOLO [Cosmic Road] is a road to outer space. It was not such a long time ago when it became a road never seen nor heard of.

WOOJOOLO was a road that anyone could travel. But at some point in time, the number of travelers became less and less. You see, the road to outer space was long and boring and weary. Moreover, there really wasn’t much to do once you reached outer space, other than looking at the universe surrounding you. If you’ve never been in outer space, I guess it would be hard to even imagine the sort of emptiness and remoteness that fills your heart and mind as you vacantly stare into the vast cosmos.

Perhaps, people became afraid of the emptiness they felt at the end of their long travels. For lives that required fulfillment of the mind, heart, and stomach to have meaning, such travels may have been a waste of time.

At first, grass started to grow on the Cosmic Road.

As the brush and foliage grew thicker, tiny waterways began to form, and after a long time, they became a stream.

People stopped talking about WOOJOOLO, and it gradually vanished from our sight and memories. The road to outer space is actually quite near us, but now we foolishly look up at the sky when we talk about outer space.

Come to the Saint Martin Canal on October 17 between 5 and 8 o’clock. The Cosmic Road will open again.

Fold this piece of paper into a paper airplane or boat and send it through WOOJOOLO. At that moment, if you really wish for it, the Cosmic Road may open its heart and show you the whole universe, and perhaps your very own universe as well!

우주로(宇宙路)를 아시나요?

…그러니까 우주로(宇宙路)는, 길입니다, 우주로 통하는 길 말이죠.

사실 우주로가 우리에게 ‘듣도 보도 못한 길’이 되어버린 건 그다지 멀지 않은 옛날입니다.

우주로는 누구나 거닐 수 있는 길이었는데 언제부터인가 하나 둘 그 길을 찾지 않게 되었습니다. 우주까지 걸어가는 길은 길고도 멀어서 지루하고 힘이 들었거든요. 게다가 막상 우주에 닿아도 딱히 할 만한 일은 없습니다. 눈 앞에 펼쳐진 우주의 광경을 바라보는 것 밖에요.

아마 우주를 본 적이 없으신 분들께서는 상상조차 막연하실 테죠, 우주를 망연히 바라보자면 그저 마음은 텅 비고 머릿속은 아득해지기만 하는 그 기분이란.

사람들은 어쩌면 긴 여정의 끝에 갖게 되는 공허함이 두려웠나 봅니다. 머리도 가슴도 배도 주머니도 꽉꽉 채워야 살 맛 나는 인생살이에 그런 순간은 낭비일지도 모르니까요.

처음에는 우주로에 풀이 나기 시작했습니다.

풀잎이 무성해지자 물길이 트였고 오랜 시간이 지나며 물이 불어나 개천을 이루었습니다.

아무도 우주로에 대해 이야기도 하지 않게 되면서 우주로는 그렇게 우리의 눈에서, 기억에서 사라졌죠. 우주로 가는 길은 사실 아주 가까운 곳에 있는데 어리석게도 이제 우리는 하늘을 보며 우주를 이야기합니다.

10월 10일 우이천으로 오십시오.
오후 3시부터 5시 사이, 닫혔던 우주로가 열립니다.
그곳에 가면 우주(宇宙)가 둘[二]이라 ‘우이’천이라는 것, 알고 계셨나요?

진심으로 바란다면 그 날, 아득한 저 우주와 당신만의 우주를 모두 만나게 될 것입니다.

One can travel the world and see nothing. To achieve understanding it is necessary not to see many things, but to look hard at what you do see.

                 - Giorgio Morandi, quoted by Michael Kimmelman in Looking Long and Hard

I begin my work by watching reality and the present. This act of watching does not only consist of visual cognizance but also exploration and observation through the use of my body. As an intimate part of the art creation process, I collect the sensations that result from the instantaneous reactions of my body to a given space and time that I am abruptly confronted with. My collecting goes beyond recognizing what exists before my eyes to contemplating things that no longer exist, such as old social customs, extinct organisms, and songs that are known but no longer sung – things that have disappeared or gone into hiding. The “un”-real or “sur”-real elements that often appear in my works are not merely products of fiction and imagination, but, as literally suggested by the word prefixes, are small devices that are based on reality but dismantle conventional yardsticks of time and space to show fleeting reflections of reality in a world governed by alternate rules and logic.

The information and material collected throughout the process are collectively and simultaneously visualized through means such as object-making, collage, video installation, and performance. Especially since 2006, throughout a number of works in which I tried to relate personally and discreetly with residents of various neighborhoods, I have become interested in where art encounters spectators and work encounters space, and the manner in which the encounters occur. Most recently, I participated in an outdoor exhibition that allowed visitors to more easily approach works of art, and built a small house using the principles of camera obscura. The commonplace outdoor scenery surrounding the house, once projected onto the walls inside the house via the 120 holes bored around its exterior, became something that only then would one carefully observe. Constantly reaching out to new methods and media, I continue to dance, hop, and run on the stage of reality and hope that the spectators will merrily join in.