Art Office

Hyunji Jung is a sound artist. She made a soundscape using augmented reality: phantasmauris. It is her sketch in sound and feeling of Rotterdam in lockdown. She uses it to capture the silence and alienation in the city, like a memory that you can activate at any moment, online. Even if Rotterdam will be post-pandemic.

What was it like to make a sound artwork in the outdoor area in corona time?
“During the lockdown, like everyone else, I felt isolated and alienated from reality. The sound in my art reflects that feeling. It sounded obscure and fragmented so that you get the feeling of being adrift, getting lost in the city. I work with the idea of ​​psycho-geography and accidental associations of the subconscious. My practice is based on the synthesis of sound and research. Making recordings was made possible by the subsidy from CBK Rotterdam. I could go out looking for sounds in the city. It was a depressing time but luckily I was still able to work.'

Before you went to study at the art academy in Rotterdam, you studied English in South Korea. How did you become an artist?
'After studying English in Korea, I went in search of my own art form. I was already interested in music and turned to sound art, as a cartographic tool. A year after graduating in the Netherlands, the first lockdown period came. I returned to Korea to reflect, I even considered quitting art and eventually wanted to return to Korea for good. But – then only temporarily – back in the Netherlands, my plans changed the moment I received an R&D subsidy (Development and Research Regulations of CBK Rotterdam, ed.) requested. By writing the application it became clear to me how I saw my professional practice as an artist, the deadline helped to muster self-discipline. And after I received the grant, I was able to dedicate myself completely to my artistry.'

The sound artwork you made is reminiscent of the Situationists, who crossed Paris in the last century. Did you make your own version for Rotterdam?
'Guy Debord is indeed a source of inspiration, because of his background as an architect he has a different perspective on the world. His idea of ​​navigating a city to create its own story intrigues me. I also find urbanism interesting. My sound art is a means of capturing the city. I recorded household noises, but also sounds in a church and at the market. I digitized and edited the recordings with the GRMtool: electroacoustic music manipulation software. I combined the recordings into a piece of music. So it wasn't just any noise.'

You made a movie with the soundscape: people with headphones walking through the city. One of them starts to dance. Did you give them instructions or did they react spontaneously to what they heard?
'I asked friends to act, one of them was a dancer. She started dancing on her own.'

Did you miss an audience during the lockdown? What is the effect that your work could ideally achieve?
'My project could have had a little more promotion, but friends were interested. The sound, distorted as it is, acts as a starting point for reminiscing and for a journey through the mind.'

How did the lockdown affect you?
'I called a lot with family and friends and worked on the project. I found it difficult, I felt lost. Luckily I could an artist-in-residence organizing with my art collective MINT Podium in WORM. That's how I got to know new people.'

What are you doing now?
'I am now studying Indian classical music as part of my research into sound and music. I want to go to India to learn more. Now I'm taking lessons from Marianne Svasek, who teaches Indian classical singing at Codarts. Music offers so many possibilities, different contexts, different cultures play a role: it's not just about the sound itself.'

What is it like to live and work in Rotterdam?
'Everyone I meet in the art world is open and inclusive. I was recently invited for a project in Melly to provide the sound for a performance. One project seems to lead organically to the next. I would like to stay in Rotterdam for a few more years. At the moment I have a studio in the IJzerblok complex in Coolhaven, a community of about eighty artists. There is a garden, we organize activities there together. Recently, for example, a performance event. I then played a live set with a modular synthesizer.

What did the award of PPR mean to you? Is it an arrangement that can make sense on a more structural basis?
“I felt like I would be very lost without this award. Not every project should always have a long lead time or depth to be honored. Sometimes it's nice if you can try something out on a tight budget.'

Temporary work contribution PPR
Om artists during the corona lockdowns to help maintain their professional practice, launched CBK Rotterdam de Ttemporary Wacknowledgment Production, Presentation en Research (PPR) about this visual artists can are signed up at CBK Rotterdam. Divided into two rounds in 2020 in 2021 finally received bijna two hundred artists a contribution. The result of the temporary work contribution is bundled in a publication in which we, together with a few artists, look back and look forward. This is one of fifteen interviews from the publication.

Text: Machteld Leij
Photos: Mark Bolk