Halo Composition
2015
Speakers, wood, tiles, lighting, curtains, glass, wallpaper
Dimensions and durations variable (unique durations per looped channel)
Each time I heard the voice of a neighbor with a unique tone and texture permeate the wall, I experienced a vivid sense of the bodily presence of this unseen neighbor. The voice, through its very sound, provides material and visual information, evoking the body as its origin and the spatial context in which the person is located.
Theories on the voice generally describe this medium as having three functions: the voice as a carrier of language, the voice as a performative device, and the voice as a representation of materiality. Listening to th neighbor’s singing voice as it seeped through the wall and entered my ear, I felt as though I was witnessing the entire process of the voice, as a performative device, intentionally bypassing i ts role as a carrier of languag to recreate the body. In contrast, technologies like phonographs and microphones have always been studied for their capacity to detach the voice from the body or to extend it dramatically across spatial boundaries. This work temporarily repositions disembodied voice, re-establishing a fleeting connection to the body and the space it inhabits.
In popular music, there are fragmented vocal elements that neither convey lyrics nor accompany melodies—expressive features of the singer’s voice that remain absent from sheet music. These include exclamations, sighs, or the unique textual sounds of the vocal cords. These sounds are not fully contained within language or music, yet they often reveal the singer’s individuality and physicality more profoundly than any melody or lyric. I selected these fragments from various songs performed by different artists. I then placed them within the given space, either hidden within pre-existing structures such as behind doors, inside ventilation systems, behind walls, within closets, or within newly created structures with minimal architectural elements. This method of spatially arranging these voices, each imbued with its own unique rhythm and texture, is what I call Halo Composition.
Commissioned by the HITE Collection in 2015
(KR)
Speakers, wood, tiles, lighting, curtains, glass, wallpaper
Dimensions and durations variable (unique durations per looped channel)
Each time I heard the voice of a neighbor with a unique tone and texture permeate the wall, I experienced a vivid sense of the bodily presence of this unseen neighbor. The voice, through its very sound, provides material and visual information, evoking the body as its origin and the spatial context in which the person is located.
Theories on the voice generally describe this medium as having three functions: the voice as a carrier of language, the voice as a performative device, and the voice as a representation of materiality. Listening to th neighbor’s singing voice as it seeped through the wall and entered my ear, I felt as though I was witnessing the entire process of the voice, as a performative device, intentionally bypassing i ts role as a carrier of languag to recreate the body. In contrast, technologies like phonographs and microphones have always been studied for their capacity to detach the voice from the body or to extend it dramatically across spatial boundaries. This work temporarily repositions disembodied voice, re-establishing a fleeting connection to the body and the space it inhabits.
In popular music, there are fragmented vocal elements that neither convey lyrics nor accompany melodies—expressive features of the singer’s voice that remain absent from sheet music. These include exclamations, sighs, or the unique textual sounds of the vocal cords. These sounds are not fully contained within language or music, yet they often reveal the singer’s individuality and physicality more profoundly than any melody or lyric. I selected these fragments from various songs performed by different artists. I then placed them within the given space, either hidden within pre-existing structures such as behind doors, inside ventilation systems, behind walls, within closets, or within newly created structures with minimal architectural elements. This method of spatially arranging these voices, each imbued with its own unique rhythm and texture, is what I call Halo Composition.
Commissioned by the HITE Collection in 2015
(KR)
#01-06 Installation View at HITE Collection, Seoul (Photo by Heeseung Chung)
#07 Installation View at Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam (Photo by Gert Jan van Rooij)