Wormhole - My Framer Site

Scene

두 해 전 겨울, 우리는 App Art라는 개념을 창안했다. airWrite는 어느 한 사람이 다른 한 사람에게 영향력(influencer)을 주는 존재가 아니라 모두(everyone)가 진정으로 상호작용한다는 개념을 앱으로 구현했고, 그 바탕에는 ‘모든 보통의 삶은 위대하다’는 철학이 있다.

이는 예술의 민주화 그 자체였기에 우리는 자신있었다. 마르셀 뒤샹만큼이나 충격적인 예술사건이라고 생각했고 백남준을 잇는 현대예술의 정통 계보라고 생각했다 - 지금도 그렇게 생각한다. 그러나 예술가를 지원하는 정부사업에서 보기 좋게 떨어졌고 우리의 겨울은 그렇게 끝이 나는가 싶었다. 지원금이 없으니 작품을 만들 수 없었기 때문이다.

그런데 우리에겐 시간이 있으니까 - 돈을 모아서 만들고, 모아서 만들면 되지. 그래서 만들었다. 우리가 추구하는 아름다움 - 갈고 닦아 자연스러워지는 것. 그 아름다움을 위해 모든 삶의 고단함을 외면하고 받아들이며 만들었다.

마침내 마무리가 되었을 때서야 작품을 전시하기 위해서는 돈이 든다는 것을 알게 되었다. 우리는 미대를 나오지도 않았고 명망있는 예술가도 아니니까 이 작품 하나로 우리를 받아줄리 만무했다. 나를 뭐라고 소개해야할지도 불분명했으니까.

그런데 생각해 보니 애초부터 전시의 목적이 아니라 만드는데 목적이 있었으니 일단 이뤘다고 생각했다. 그러나 아무도 모르면 그게 무슨 소용인가 싶던 그때, Jerry Saltz를 알게 되었다 - 개인적으로 알게 되었다는 게 아니라 ChatGPT가 알려준 가장 유명한 예술평론가 중 한 사람으로.

그는 버스 트럭기사로 살다가 예술 평론가가 되어 퓰리처 상을 수상한 입지전적인 인물이다. ‘예술의 민주화’, ‘보통 사람이 자신의 삶의 이야기로 만들어 내는 위대한 예술’이라는 우리의 개념을 충분히 사랑해 줄 사먀람이라고 생각했다. 그래서 편지를 보냈다. 정확한 말을 고르고 골라, 문장을 엮어 글을 썼다.

그리고 편지를 보낸 날이 2024.9.8. 아직 답장은 없다. 심지어 읽지도 않았다. 스팸함 어딘가에 들어가 있겠지. 그래서 그때 보낸 편지의 초고를 이곳에 공개한다. 빈 병에 편지를 넣어 망망대해에 띄워보내듯. 누군가 읽고 그에게 닿을지 누가 알겠는가. 그렇게 된다면 이는 또 얼마나 즐거운 이야기가 되겠는가.

Dear Jerry Saltz

I would like to exhibit my work at your writing - yes, seriously. I am writing to you from Seoul, South Korea. I am thrilled at the possibility that ‘Jerry Saltz’ may be reading this email, and I hope I can hold your attention until the end. I am reaching out to ask you to exhibit my work at your writing. Yes, seriously. The very first venue for my work must be a piece of writing, and hopefully it would be yours, because 'Jerry Saltz’ has been TRUE to art, a critique is a free form of writing, and especially yours has been reaching to 'everyday individuals' I work for and I love.

Then again, why should it be exhibited on a 'written form'?

“… the most personal is the most creative.” - Martin Scorsese

I believe art emerges eventually from personal experiences, thoughts, and emotions of everyday individuals. It is these individuals, sometimes referred to simply as 'the masses' who should have been recognised as a true source of art, that matters. This old but simple truth should encompass everything, ultimately. And as a form of recording those genuine sources from everyday individuals, we cannot think of anything that is more personal but still accessible by anyone and has more universal appeal for anyone regardless of cultural context, language, or even time other than writing. Last but not least, a material used in my artwork is all about writing; a material, hand-built by me, which is normally referred to simply as 'mobile application', which in this case has of type, in particular, 'text-only' social media that consists of the very common but old elements of writing rituals - picking a tool to write, marking date it was created, signing at the end of the writing with your pen name and so on and on.

Yes, We are all equal before a written form of text.

And to bring the everyday individuals into the fold, I used an iPhone as a medium, a wormhole to bridge two worlds: the one outside the wooden frame, and the other one inside. And I'd prefer to refer to them as 'Silence' and 'Voice', respectively. I invite those who have long been mere viewers outside the frame to step beyond the boundaries and be artists. In a way that those individuals have their own stories recorded with a form of writing, the artwork "Wormhole" draws its first breath and starts to make its own way of evolving with each and every personal moments being accumulated. I call this Mass Creation 'App Art'.

The stone at the bottom of the artwork is called DatDol, a stone you can find at the entrance of a traditional Korean house, HanOk. To enter the house, you first step on DatDol, remove your shoes, and then leave them on it. Symbolically, audience steps on the DatDol to begin their journey beyond the wooden frame. It is an integral part of the artwork, so people are encouraged to engage with it. The DatDol welcomes you, guiding you to have your voice live right in the piece beyond the boundaries. Once you step on it, you gain a closer look at the touch screen of iPhone attached onto the frame, and you read an air, a post written in airWrite, aired by someone, from beyond the world of Silence. So long as viewers are holding onto this wormhole, everyone has the right to exist across those worlds. By leaving a comment on an air, you can have your voice exhibited. How do you enter? You have the key already. Simply check inside your pocket, take out your iPhone, and scan the AppClip code. You will see the exact airthat was right before inside the wooden frame in front of you instantly live outside the frame, i.e on your own iPhone whether or not you have installed the app.

Welcome to airWrite, a key to the wormhole bridging worlds - please air, your write.

“Form follows function.” - Louis Sullivan

Each artwork bears the year it was created, and my work is no different. However, you might notice that it still has a unique aspect; 2024 'onwards.' As everyday individuals have their thoughts recorded, the work evolves like any other living creatures. 2024 marks its birth, not its completion. Now, the moment has come to talk about why a framed iPhone. Yes, you just can with ease download the app from AppStore, and engage with that exact air that is being shown on the iPhone inside the frame. But still, nothing changes the fact that you are an artist in this universe airWrite is creating. That is because you 'know' that once aired, your air will come into existence on the one-and-only iPhone, precisely the framed one here, let's say, for instance on the wall of MoMA. Yes, it is this cognition of existence in physical form that makes an art eventually art, in this case 'App Art', not either an art of programming language or just an art of posting on social media applications. You know from the beginning that your air is not just bits and bytes of some data on some server on some land, but your thought existing as one of materials in the form of written text and consisting the essential part of this artwork that is being exhibited right at the moment in real life. Even if you cannot quite often visit there because it is too far from you or you are not allowed to visit there since the artwork has been sold to somebody who can afford to have it mounted on private space, it does not make any difference to you in terms of you having a knowledge of its firm existence in real life. And these are also the reasons why this iPhone is framed, in particular, in accordance with the formality of Korean traditional art of wet mounting applied commonly in traditional hanging scrolls or folding screens. Multiple NakGwan, the Korean term for a traditional seal, made of natural stone, in red ink, made of naturally-derived pigments, are being used, each of which hasits own place and meaning. The point, however, is where the empty space lies. There is a orchid painting in Korea called 'Buli Seon-ran' by Kim JeongHee (1786-1856), which is not only literally a national treasure featured with both his painting and handwriting, but also well-known for the 15 other red seals and handwritings in the margins of the artwork alongside his. Those seals and comments were made by some of the collectors and appreciators of the artwork as it changed hands in its history. Not an author himself alone, but even an audience leaves her/his thought in written form of text on the artwork with his/her name seal, and as the artwork lives its life, so its appearance naturally changes. Yes, the artwork Wormhole can grow like a living creature. And with the help of wet mounting, especially in this case 5 layers of HanJi, a Korean handmade paper produced in a traditional manner, 3 layers for backing the main paper surface and 2 layers for backing the empty border space, the artwork will stem the tide of time, as any wormhole does. And I deliberately chose not to have the empty border space mounted with conventional material of silk, which would otherwise surely serve the decorative purpose, instead I used another HanJi which blends naturally in texture and colour since I wanted the space reserved and extended properly for participation, i.e writing rituals, and not to be limited only to the main paper surface finished with gold leaf lining. The form of the artwork is basically meant to servethe purpose of a metaphor, a common ground of 'participation' for everyday individuals I work for and I love.

When it comes to the selection of medium as a wormhole, it had to be iPhone. Perception rests not primarily but quite fairly on a shape, and in this case a bold rounded rectangle with a single ring of button on the bottom is the very iconic shape that constitutes one of the most common electronics of our time, i.e. smart mobile phone. Yes I did want to talk about the existence matter in art with the most common technological advancement that belongs to my dear everyday individuals of our time. The iPhone inside the frame, however, must not be an instance of many in order to be placed and eventually docked onto the frame as a wormhole. And it shall afterwards end up with laying down its form of existence, a status of being an iPhone, to serve the purpose of being a medium as wormhole. But still, it needs to be firstly one and only object that belongs to the artwork whilst keeping its natural form of existence until being mounted onto the Frame. And in this regard, the context of its metamorphosis - becoming one-and-only-ness can be witnessed, either consciously or unconsciously, by audience in several sensory experience. First sight on standing on DatDol, is the wooden frame itself which has extended size but the exact proportion of the framed iPhone, and the shimmering gold leaf backing, or a golden robe, behind the framed iPhone which has the very size and proportion of the framed iPhone loudly tells that the place is reserved only for a certain object, i.e. the framed iPhone. A tactile and aural experience is also available for witnesses alongside the visually arranged ones above. Holding an iPhone of the same generation near the centre of the gold leaf backing, nothing happens. Only when the framed iPhone is placed close to the golden robe, the iPhone instantly falls for pairing into the arms of the Frame and fits in seamlessly as if it were meant to be there with the help of a embedded magnet hidden inside the Frame and another inlayed in the middle of the 15 layers of HanJi on the back of the framed iPhone.

Yes, the Framed iPhone is removable. In fact, It should be. The Framed iPhone would lose its entitlement to its glory of laying down its status of being an iPhone, if it would otherwise have been permanently fixed onto the Frame. Only able to choose not to be an iPhone is iPhone. As soon as being fixed, it simply loses its natural-born identity or form of existence - being portable, which so makes impossible to hold it in your hand, which means not only that, but more significantly it could be at most perceived as simply its substance used in an artwork, let's say, for instance a couch, an artwork, made up with a bunch of 'small displays in iPhone shape'. Yes, audience will no longer perceive that 'hanged' iPhone as proper iPhone as the one inside their pocket. So obvious is that it should be removable.

“… now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” - J Robert Oppenheimer

At the moment of being removed by audience, and then held in the flesh in the palm of theirboth hands, the Framed iPhone finds itself somehow on the verge of a singularity. If, yes if, even a single one of the audience, as they are holding it, in front of the artwork, in the flash of a moment, comes to think, "This might not be, an iPhone, this perhaps could be, a wormhole.", a holy door opens; Every single one of iPhones in the world can now be a wormhole that exists on their own and belongs entirely to every single one of everyday individuals. Yes. At last, the most common electronics of our time is become Life, the liberator of worlds."All roads lead to Rome." So far, so under the hood. So much engineering in philosophy. In practice then, how can possibly audience come to think that way? What on earth is it that makes it happen? Any airs, let alone comments thereof, has another birth mark of a place stamp, which by the way comes even with a specific coordinates, consisting of the names of street, city, state, and country, which means all comments aired by audience should exist simultaneously at the same place, i.e. the artwork 'Wormhole', with the place and time stamped. So, let's say for instance, the first-ever air aired by airwrite literally at the street of Mabua Road, Kampala Uganda can be listed up alongside the other comments aired at some corners of Seoul, NewYork, Paris or South Pole, if any corners, even. They are altogether existing, in realtime, bearing all different place and time stamp, but in the same place at the same time, right in your hand. Here comes the true beauty of wormhole in general. A wormhole is basically a tunnel which is known to be connecting separate points in spacetime - i.e. long distances of locations, different points in time or even different universes, but in practice, of course all just theoretically simplified and visualised ones, once created, there's no point at all to draw clear lines of demarcation, a boundary between outer and inner space. Only a thin layer, or a sheet of frame - wormhole, and finite but still unfathomably vast space are there. Yes, no space whatsoever for either voice or silence, or, author or audience. Everyday individuals now have just their natural-born say with their own wormhole inside their pocket. In this universe, that's all there is. And in so far as the first venue for my artwork concerned, where can I possibly find a perfect space other than the venerable city of Jerry Saltz who has dared to savour the sheer joy and fulfilment of everyday life in company with the ones I love, the everyday individuals of our time?

"Art emerges from personal experiences, thoughts, and emotions of everyday individuals."

There's this novel, titled 'And he confides', written by a girl, who was turning 16.; An ordinary man fell a sleep after his ordinary day. He, not a light sleeper, woke up in the middle of the night. He opened the door to go downstairs. But it was not the hallway in his house. It was a full of people obviously even in the total darkness. He finally spoke under his breath. "I cant't see anything. Do you mind telling me where this is?" Only the buzz did disappear all at once at his comment. They even started focusing on him with no response to his words at all. To his surprise, it seemed like a stage in a little theatre somehow. A play, where a wooden chair is only placed in its centre. He then seated himself on it, dumbfounded. A few moments later though, he found himself carrying on, seemingly even having fun, talking gibberish and people quite seriously listening to him, sometimes laughing and even sometimes crying. But then, a thought crossed his mind. Whether or not what he was talking about was personal, these people might not notice or even care anyway. He, thus, began to share, or try to share, things which he would otherwise have not even considered about discussing with anyone. It was indeed his feeling safe or seeking solace that did matter to him, but still he knew clearly it all could not have even been possible, if it had not been for the very existence of the people there around him. It was not, of course, too long before extraordinaries of his fears, sorrows or miseries simply turned into ordinaries. The stage lights came up anyhow as he heard the sound of the applause.

One never knows. It could have been the girl who needs the most, the door.“… I want to learn more and more to see as beautiful what is necessary in things; then I shall be one of those who make things beautiful. Amor fati: let that be my love henceforth! I do not wantto wage war against what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse theaccusers. Looking away shall be my only negation. And all in all and on the whole: some day I wish to be only a Yes-sayer." - Friedrich Nietzsche

Probably I might not belong to the true definition of an artist. Yes, not obviously, even in a much broader sense of it. I have no degrees in art, no exhibition records, and even no artist friends at all. By 2020, I was simply an employee working at the Korean government aid agency. I, of course, find it challenging though to define myself these days, even though I am the same person I have always been. And as a matter of fact, I failed, not mostly but constantly, in my forty two years of life to listen to my voice. Not solely because of a warm but worried looks on ones' faces or shaking ones' heads in polite contradiction, but truly because of my lack of courage, or, more frankly, my lack of belief in me.

But this time, surely the last one, I can say with full of confidence that I want this. I want this work happening. I hear me calling on which I turned my back since I was twelve. Isn't it that every single one of us has lights and shadows in his or her own galaxy? Isn't it that every galaxy has its own milky way of stories, thoughts, and emotions of its everyday revolution? Isn't it that there might be another girls or boys, like a girl I used to be, who needs the most the door connecting us to each other whilst keeping our form of existence, not so much in the form of following, followed ones or influencing, influenced ones as a galaxy that glows in the bright light of its own existence?

I hope my letter could reach you, your words could reach the everyday individuals I love, and finally they are connected and enjoy their invaluable everyday lives in the grounds of art.

I do appreciate for your time and look forward to hearing from you.

Warm regards from Seoul,