MAH-UHM (for Theresa Hak Kyung Cha)

Performance & relic sound installation, fabric, water, loam, bucket, 2ch audio, 2025

Solo Show “remains of remains of remains of remains”, Galerie Konzept e.V., Kassel, Germany, 2025

EN)

<MAH-UHM (for Theresa Hak Kyung Cha)> is a performance and a relic sound installation. Created in 2025, the work takes its name from the Korean word for 마음 (Mah-Uhm) and addresses the often misunderstood fragments of the past. The materials used in the performance are white cloths, loam, and water. I dip a cloth into a bowl of water and clay on the floor and soak it, rubbing it between my fingers as if washing my hands. Then I take the cloth and attach it to iron chains hung from the ceiling and walls. Then I take another cloth and dip it in the bowl, and so on. I repeat this process several times until the room is filled with a number of hanging cloths soaked in clay water. The performance is over. The sound begins: a delicate flute note (organ pipe) can be heard, interspersed with long pauses, breathing and the beating of a percussive skin. The relics of the performance are the cloths, which have been colored brown by the loam and are gradually drying, changing their shape and surface. The title of the work, the Korean word "Mah-Uhm" (마음), is a cultural concept in Korea that cannot be fully explained in any other language. It can also be interpreted as the space where a person's inner voice and some other part of them resonates. It can be their soul, their heart, their desires, and their will. It also refers to the refuge of the soul. "Mah-Uhm" (마음) also refers to a person's purity, which is different from intuition. This work is dedicated to the Korean intermedia artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951-1982), who lived in the USA since her childhood and who speaks of Mah-Uhm in several passages of her text collection <Dictee> (1982): "By birth. By death. By blood. You carry the mark in your chest, in your MAH-UHM, in your MAH-UHM, in your spirit-heart".

DE)

<MAH-UHM (for Theresa Hak Kyung Cha)> ist eine Performance und eine Relikt- Klanginstallation. Die 2025 entstandene Arbeit, deren Name sich vom koreanischen Wort für 마음 (Mah-Uhm) ableitet, thematisiert die oft unverstandenen Fragmente vergangener Zeit. Die Materialien der Performance sind weiße Tücher, Lehm und Wasser. Ich tauche ein Tuch in eine auf dem Boden stehende Schüssel, die mit Wasser und Lehm, und durchnässe es, reibe es zwischen den Fingern wie bei einer gewöhnliche Handwäsche. Dann nehme ich das Tuch und befestige es im Raum an zuvor an Decke und Wand aufgehängte Eisenketten. Anschließend nehme ich ein weiteres Tuch in die Hand und tauche es in die Schüssel usw. Mehrmals wiederhole ich diesen Vorgang, bis der Raum mit etlichen hängenden lehmwassergetränkten Tüchern gefüllt ist. Die Performance ist beendet. Der Sound beginnt: Zu hören sind ein zarter, von langen Pausen durchzogener Flötenton (Orgelpfeife), Atmen und das Schlagen auf perkussives Fell. Die Relikte der Performance sind die durch den Lehm bräunlich gefärbten Tücher, die nach und nach trocknen und ihre Form und Oberfläche verändern. Der Titel der Arbeit, das koreanische Wort „Mah-Uhm“ (마음), ist ein kulturelles Konzept in Korea, das wohl in keiner anderen Sprache vollständig erklärt werden kann. Es kann auch als der Raum interpretiert werden, in dem die innere Stimme einer Person und ein anderer Teil von ihr erklingt. Es kann ihre Seele sein, ihr Herz, ihre Wünsche und ihr Wille. Es benennt auch die Zuflucht der Seele. „Mah-Uhm“ (마음) bezeichnet auch die Reinheit des Menschen, die sich von der Intuition unterscheidet. Diese Arbeit ist der koreanischen, seit ihrer Kindheit in den USA lebenden Intermedia-Künstlerin Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951-1982) gewidmet, die in einigen Passagen ihrer Text-Sammlung <Dictee> (1982) von Mah-Uhm spricht: „By birth. By death. By blood. You carry the mark in your chest, in your MAH-UHM, in your MAH-UHM, in your spirit-heart.”

KR)

작품 <마음 (for Theresa Hak Kyung Cha)>은 퍼포먼스 및 사운드가 결합된 잔해 설치물이다. 2025년에 구현한 이 작품은 우리말 ‘마음’에서 비롯된 것으로, 이해받지 못한 과거의 파편을 주제로 한다. 이 퍼포먼스에는 흰 천, 점토, 물이 주 재료로 사용된다. 퍼포머-작가는 바닥에 놓인 물과 점토가 담긴 대야에 천을 담그고 손빨래를 하듯 문지르며 흙물로 씻어낸다. 이후, 공간의 천장과 벽에 걸린 낡은 체인에 천을 널기 시작한다. 퍼포머는 다른 천을 가져와 다시 대야에 담그는 방식으로 행위를 반복한다. 흙물에 적신 천들이 공간을 가득 채울 때까지 이 과정을 계속 이어간다.

퍼포먼스에 결합된 사운드는 긴 휴지(休止) 속 섬세하며 여린 오르간 파이프의 취주(吹奏) 소리, 가는 호흡 소리, 타악기 모피의 두드림이 공간 내에서 산재된다. 퍼포먼스의 잔해는 점토에 의해 갈색으로 물든 천이 되고, 이는 서서히 마르면서 그 모양과 표면이 변형된다. 작품의 제목인 ‘마음’은 다른 어떤 언어로도 충분히 설명할 수 없는 한국의 문화적 개념이다. 이는 인간 내면의 목소리와 또 다른 부분이 울려 퍼지는 공간으로도 해석될 수 있다. 그것은 또한 영혼, 마음, 욕망, 의지 등이 될 수도 있다. 그리고 이 ‘마음’은 영혼의 피난처를 뜻한다. 이 ‘마음’은 직관과는 다른, 사람의 순수함을 의미한다.

작품 <마음 (for Theresa Hak Kyung Cha)>은 미국에서 유년기를 보낸 한국계 미국인 인터미디어 아티스트 차학경(1951~1982)에게 헌정한 작품이다. “By birth. By death. By blood. You carry the mark in your chest, in your MAH-UHM, in your MAH-UHM, in your spirit-heart.” - 차학경의 ‘딕테’(1982)에서

“MAH-UHM (for Theresa Hak Kyung Cha)”, performance & relic sound installation, Galerie Konzept e.V., Kassel, Germany, 2025 (Photo: Kai Fromann)

“MAH-UHM (for Theresa Hak Kyung Cha)”, performance & relic sound installation, Galerie Konzept e.V., Kassel, Germany, 2025 (Photo: Hyunju Oh, Kai Fromann)

“MAH-UHM (for Theresa Hak Kyung Cha)”, performance & relic sound installation, Galerie Konzept e.V., Kassel, Germany, 2025 (Photo: Hyunju Oh)

Credits:

Concept by Hyunju Oh
Performer: Hyunju Oh
Sound: Hyunju Oh
Documentation:
Photo: Hyunju Oh, Kai Fromann
Still: Hyunju Oh

Support:
The City of Kassel, the Hessian Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and the Arts and the Gerhard Fieseler Foundation
The working draft was conceived by the research grant "Auf den Spuren Bildender Künstlerinnen" of the Deutscher Künstlerbund and the Kunst-Mentorings - a project of the Kulturbüro Rheinland-Pfalz.

OH, HYUNJU

Performance

MAH-UHM (for Theresa Hak Kyung Cha) (2025)

MAH-UHM (for Theresa Hak Kyung Cha)