People / Critic

Donghyun Kim : Symbiosis – A One Way of Converting Nature into a Subject

posted 06 July 2020

1. Visualization of ‘The Invisible / Unhearable’
Donghyun Kim’s work feels like magic. Vibrant life abruptly sprouts from a seemingly unexpected spot, a sound of calm nature overflows at an unanticipated place, and even blooms sweet music that is carried by a flexible rhythm. While ‘those’ that are embedded in nature are mostly ‘invisible and unhearable things,’ they are born again as ‘the visible’ and ‘the hearable’ through a magical spell cast by the artist, Donghyun Kim. In that sense, Donghyun Kim can be considered as an ‘artistic medium’ that delivers those that are not quite visible in nature but do exist in the real world through ‘visualization and auralization.’ Isn’t it that the spell of a medium that connects nirvana and paramita is magic that leads humans to arrive at a world beyond humanity?

Like a magician or medium, Donghyun Kim summons ‘those that are invisible or easily unreadable,’ for example, the latent qi (氣) or energy existing in nirvana, into the world of paramita in front of the viewers, employing forms of impedance such as a brain wave.

For example, in Water counterpoint No. 2 (2018), the artist installed a wooden hexagonal dome symbolizing a drop of water and placed beakers containing seawater that had been sampled from ten spots in Sihwa Lake in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, as if the installation was a laboratory. Using sensors detecting the brain waves of the viewers, eight motors were operated to play different sounds according to the pH value of the seawater in each beaker. The work leads the viewers to reflect on the sorrows of the citizens in Ansan who had experienced the tragedy of the Sewol ferry disaster a few years ago. It seems to be a metaphor with multiple meanings, mediating ‘nature and humanity,’ ‘society and humans,’ and ‘life and death.’

In this sense, such an artwork is an evolved version of her previous series, in which she experimented with ‘imagination to create new hypothetical organisms by mixing different energies’ under a witty title, Dr. Autopoi’s Lab, in a new dimension. Recently titled as Couterpoint, this series of works is taking a bold step to enter a point at which the artist’s practice is departing from interesting ‘sci-fi imagination’ to ‘metaphorical imagination’ that embraces and reflects on the human life and society.

At this point, there is one thing that should be considered. In her work, Donghyun Kim converts nature from a ‘being that is objectified by humans’ to a ‘being that is equal to humans,’ which speaks and thinks by itself. Depending on the perspective, nature rather seems to be elevated into the ‘domain of subject.’

2. Interaction or symbiosis
Let’s take a look at the artist’s other work, Plant synth (2018). The work is embedded with sensors that measure the frequency of the viewers’ bodies, which operate when they touch the plant that is being cultivated in the so-called ‘hydroponic farming tower.’ The frequency of the human body is captured and analyzed by the plant. Can this be considered as a reversal of the subject? At a glance, the work reminds of Cézanne’s comment, “The landscape thinks in me, and I am its consciousness,” which is quoted by Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Such a comment, which sounds as if it is about the reversal of the subject and object, informs us that the subject and object have been in a dynamic, interchangeable relationship from the outset. Merleau-Ponty also insists that the subject and object or the human and nature exist within this reciprocal interaction by comments such as “to be body means to be linked to a certain world” and “our body is not primarily in space: it is in space.”

김동현, 〈메타트론큐브〉, 2019

Donghyun Kim, 〈Metatro Cube〉, 2019, wood, sensor, DC motor, 150×125×150 cm

What message did the artist want to deliver through this work? This is what she says. “This is a work that momentarily reveals the symbiotic relationship between nature and humans. Even the same person touches the plant, the work always generates different sounds because the frequency of the human body does not always remain stable.” The response of the interaction, which is generated by the conflict of the human frequency and that of nature, always vary. In a Merleau-Pontian manner, it is because the subject and object always interact with each other. To borrow Kim’s words, they are beings in ‘symbiosis.’ Certainly, the worldview that the artist aims to materialize in the work is not really about ‘commensalism,’ a biological term to explain a symbiosis that only one side of the relationship gains benefit while the other side neither gains benefit nor loss. Rather, it is oriented toward ‘mutualism,’ a symbiosis that both sides gain benefit. Such a direction does not remain in a ‘reverse manner that makes nature become a subject.’ Rather, it focuses on inviting humans to nature as protagonists of the ecosystem and ceaselessly practicing a ‘symbiosis with humanity.’

This is the very reason why Donghyun Kim employed a musical term, Counterpoint, as the title of the series. As counterpoint refers to “a technique of musical composition that combines more than two melodies that are strongly independent of each other,” the artist invites ‘humans and nature,’ which had been put in contrast through the frames of ‘artificial verses natural’ and ‘humans versus environment,’ as partners of a symbiosis – ‘together, at the same time.’ By doing so, the artist sufficiently embraces humans and nature, which are strongly independent of each other, in the meaning of slant lines (/) – such as ‘artificial/nature, humans/environment.’

3. The World of a ‘Certain System’ and Depth
In particular, the artist attempts to achieve positive interaction and communication with the viewers by realizing the movement of the artwork through their participation. In specific, the artist increases the immersion into the artwork by generating interest of the viewers by making them encounter the artwork in unpredictable ways using motion detectors or endowing a perception that it is changing by their own participation (whether it is true or note). One can say that an artificially created artwork constantly invites the viewers into itself through particular mechanical or material devices, attempting an interaction with the viewers. In 〈Noah’s Ark〉 (2016), 〈Flow~ A Story of Counterpoint for a Hitchhiker #1〉 (2016), and 〈God Does Not Play Dice〉 (2016), the artist interacts with children by realizing comical or funny gestures in the mechanical movement and additionally operating active participation program where the viewers are invited as creative subjects. Moreover, the artist adds prudent social metaphors on top of the simple mechanical language, exchanging serious yet meaningful messages with the viewers.

As such, Donghyun Kim establishes a ‘certain system’ by voluntarily playing the role of a medium that mediates the artwork and the viewers, while maintaining her position as a creator at the same time. It is a certain kind of ‘automation system.’ In 〈Counterpoint #1〉 (2018), it is materialized as “an automatic piano system played by ping-pong balls hit by ten solenoids operated by motion detectors.” In 〈Karma Machine-Autoreverse〉 (2018), it is an “autoreverse system” where a large cassette tape is repeatedly moving between two directions. The infrared sensor in the aforementioned works, brain wave detectors in 〈Water counterpoint No.2〉 (2018), and the random and automatic output of preconfigured sound sources are examples of such systems.

Can this be a reason behind the following? The artist’s kinetic artworks even feel affectionate. The mechanical structures move like living animals, breaking their joints. A large artificial cassette tape revolves and plays a voice of nature. It is because such an automation system easily generates a perception of the viewers that artworks are operated by their active participation. Indeed, this kind of system is even open to the possibility of variation through the participation of the viewers.

In the construction of a ‘certain system,’ what is most important is not an excellent technique to handle the technology but the fact that it carries out the communication between humans from the insipid mechanical structures. In particular, the artist continually involves ‘those that exist yet invisible,’ such as reactions to the change of brain waves or pH concentration of seawater, into her work. As a result, this encourages deeper existential reflection and perception. This resembles the world made of the dimension of 'depth (profondeur),' which is considered as the essence of the ‘invisible’ in Merleau-Ponty’s philosophy. This is why we anticipate the artist’s other artworks where the world of ‘depth’ continually opens up with the viewers within the ‘invisible (or unhearable).’