Sound Installation
Yeong San 靈山
2024
【Yeong San 靈山】
【Yeongsan (the Buddist mountain)】 is a soundscape installation composed of four audio tracks built from field recordings collected over the years 2021–2024. The piece plays across four speakers, runs 90 minutes, and is loops four times daily between 1 PM and 7 PM.
When it rains in summer, I get ready and go outside—only when few people are around, and without carrying anything. A chance like that doesn’t come often. Light rain or drizzle isn’t quite right; it must be a heavy, pouring rain. When I face the rain with my whole body, the sound that envelops me is utterly different from what’s heard under an umbrella or behind a window. It takes over—like the waves crashing against a beach during a storm, or the chorus of cicadas in the sweltering heat.
After such a sonic sweep, I find myself in a similar state as the streets after the rain. The mental dust gets washed away, and long-buried memories unexpectedly settle into new places. Colors sharpen, the blurry becomes vivid—and then, inevitably, sunlight streams in.
As the Jindo Ssitgimgut (ritual cleansing shamanic rite) suggests, a washing ritual is essential to send the deceased peacefully. Similarly, the Buddhist Gwanyok (ritual bathing) performed in a Cheondojae (Buddhist funeral ritual) serves the same purpose.
At the exhibition ⟨Yeongsan (靈山)⟩, part of 《La Plante Dansante de Désastres》 on December 19, 2024 at Post Territory Ujeongguk, visitors are invited—while still alive—to bathe in sound.
☞ installation documentation
Chanted by Buddhist Monks of Bongwon Temple
Recorded and Edited by Jo Seon Ah
Producer | Jo Seon Ah
Production Manager | Bae Sang Hee
Set Designer | Kim Hye Jeong (NACA)
Sound Operation | Lee Seong Rock (Blue Red Studio)
Stage Manager | Hong Seung Ki
Graphic Designer | Macadamia Oh
Program Introduction | U Eun
Video Documentation | Kim Chang Gu
Special thanks to | Shin Wonjung, Yi Dooho
Support | Arts Council Korea
【Yeongsan (the Buddist mountain)】 is a soundscape installation composed of four audio tracks built from field recordings collected over the years 2021–2024. The piece plays across four speakers, runs 90 minutes, and is loops four times daily between 1 PM and 7 PM.
When it rains in summer, I get ready and go outside—only when few people are around, and without carrying anything. A chance like that doesn’t come often. Light rain or drizzle isn’t quite right; it must be a heavy, pouring rain. When I face the rain with my whole body, the sound that envelops me is utterly different from what’s heard under an umbrella or behind a window. It takes over—like the waves crashing against a beach during a storm, or the chorus of cicadas in the sweltering heat.
After such a sonic sweep, I find myself in a similar state as the streets after the rain. The mental dust gets washed away, and long-buried memories unexpectedly settle into new places. Colors sharpen, the blurry becomes vivid—and then, inevitably, sunlight streams in.
As the Jindo Ssitgimgut (ritual cleansing shamanic rite) suggests, a washing ritual is essential to send the deceased peacefully. Similarly, the Buddhist Gwanyok (ritual bathing) performed in a Cheondojae (Buddhist funeral ritual) serves the same purpose.
At the exhibition ⟨Yeongsan (靈山)⟩, part of 《La Plante Dansante de Désastres》 on December 19, 2024 at Post Territory Ujeongguk, visitors are invited—while still alive—to bathe in sound.
☞ installation documentation
Chanted by Buddhist Monks of Bongwon Temple
Recorded and Edited by Jo Seon Ah
Producer | Jo Seon Ah
Production Manager | Bae Sang Hee
Set Designer | Kim Hye Jeong (NACA)
Sound Operation | Lee Seong Rock (Blue Red Studio)
Stage Manager | Hong Seung Ki
Graphic Designer | Macadamia Oh
Program Introduction | U Eun
Video Documentation | Kim Chang Gu
Special thanks to | Shin Wonjung, Yi Dooho
Support | Arts Council Korea