CONCERT FOR 2 KOR(E)AS consists of a wall and floor projection mapping accompanied by two koras performing a traditional Korean arirang song.
Arirang is a fixture of Korean culture. There’s no telling where it comes from, since local tales seem to emanate from every region in Korea. Some derive its vocal fluctuations and power of expression from the traditional Pansori (a sung narrative that originates in shamanism). Arirang develops around the notion of han, a profound feeling, an unresolved sadness caused by dramatic events throughout Korean history. Han is deeply rooted in Korean culture. It became a rallying call during the Japanese colonisation. It remains to this day a powerful uniting factor, albeit under much lighter circumstances, such as football matches, K-Pop concerts or even throughout the Korean diaspora.
The title is based on a pun between "Korea” and "kora", but it also establishes a meaningful connection that points to a fundamental interrogation familiar to exiles everywhere: how is it possible to express a very personal emotion, not through your mother tongue but using the language of the Other? How do you convey han, this deep melancholy?
The viewer is taken on a journey from East to West, from the frozen beaches of the Yellow Sea to the warm sands of the Mandé Empire of ancient Mali. The video reads like sheet music that would emulate the tremors of a body through the hot and cold convolutions of its memory, by turns liquid and solid. But the real journey follows the path traced by the composer and the two musicians, by these two koras whose canticle modulates the arirang, seemingly taking up the melismatic intonations of Korean voices. The two Koreas thence become but the memory of a nourishing land, a Chôra, which only subsists in the back and forth of a call and response.
Blues and diaspora.
post production:
ATELIER 105
2 PRINTS IN DISTRIBUTION
|
distribution format |
Digital file on server (4K) |
|
version
|
single channel |
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screen |
16/9 (single screen) |
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speed |
25 fps |
|
sound |
sound |
|
original language |
English |
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rental fee |
61,00 € |
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distribution format |
DCP on server (SMPTE 2K) |
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version
|
single channel |
|
screen |
1,85 - Panoramic (single screen) |
|
speed |
25 fps |
|
sound |
sound |
|
original language |
English |
|
rental fee |
61,00 € |
