[ISEA2016] Artist Statement: JINKU KIM — …WHAT IS SEEN WAS NOT MADE OUT OF WHAT WAS VISIBLE

Artist Statement

Audio-visual installation/Performance, 2015, 27-30 mins

“…what is seen was not made out of what was visible”. The vibration of air molecules can be perceived as a tangible kind of beauty, at times extreme and other times subtle. This aesthetic abstraction both moves toward and pushes away from how we normally define synesthesia. This work is a dynamic audiovisual installation/performance, which explores a purely physical connection between the sonic and the visual. The audiovisual elements are tightly synchronized and unified into a new form of synesthetic tactile experience. Sounds, both within and beyond the human hearing range, create a physically perceptible vibration of air molecules and simultaneously manifest as visual geometric patterns on a customized 16-channel oscilloscope. This oscilloscope acts as the technology for the immediate visualization of sounds ranging from the infrasonic to the ultrasonic. As the process continues in real-time, the music affects what I create visually, and as I create the visuals they in turn affect the music in a continuous and organic feedback loop.
I intentionally move away from the ubiquitous traditional screen format; instead, I physically sculpt projection into the real world around us, creating and mapping dimension onto existing objects and spaces. The physical space itself is a key element in my working process, and I explore radical ways of visualizing my musical ideas to specifically fit the site. In this work, the audience is immersed in a hyper-tactile experience of audiovisual installation/ performance.

  • JINKU KIM is a composer, performer, and multimedia artist currently residing in New England, USA. His audiovisual performances and sound installations redefine the boundaries of interaction and seeking the pure physical connection between the sonic and the visual. Over the past decade, he has developed his unique audiovisual performance systems, which succeed the analog past to guide to new tangible era, utilizing custom hardware and software.  grayscale64.com

Full text and photo (PDF) p. 160-161