Re-shaping t/dunes(2022) — Minji Kim(Unknown Kim)

Title: Re-shaping t/dunes(2022)
Place: ZER01NE Day 2022 <Future Ground>, Seoul
Date: 30/9/2022 - 2/10/2022
Format: Sound Installation

‘Reshaping t/dunes’ aims to research acoustic communication between coastal infrastructure and the ecological environment when re-shaping dunes on the coast that have been eroded by environmental influences.

My research covers three main areas.
(a) Research cases of environmental regeneration engineering, such as the Zand Motor (ZM), through collective fieldwork with a variety of participants.
(b) Make an instrument that appropriates the Zand Motor’s mechanism that interacts with real-time moving sand dunes on coastal sides. The instrument is deeply related to Cymatics and is a medium that can reveal the acoustic/musical quality of coastal infrastructures as sonic objects.
(c) Install them on the coasts both of the Netherlands and Korea to investigate communications between human-designed infrastructure and the coastal environment. *These points are addressed through ecological thinking, philosophical speculation, and sound art practice in the context of acoustic ecology and object-oriented ontology.

The principal question that the research aims to answer is: How do coastal infrastructures work as sonic objects, how do these sonic objects reflect and transform the ecological conditions of the local environment, and how can a site-specific musical instrument be designed?

My research set out from the question how sound/music can be more directly related to ecology beyond simply making field recordings of environmental sounds, which are then consumed as an artistic/musical piece. Can sound/music affect ecology and positively contribute to a better ecological environment? Then, I discovered ZM and observed a possible connection between it and Cymatics' artistic experiments utilizing unique acoustic and terrain patterns. Therefore, I wanted to see what kind of sound/music can emerge when sands are moved by natural energy and if I can create an instrument that appropriates ZM’s mechanism that can be played in a site-specific manner.

Talk 1 Video Link: MetaHumanNature

Performance Video:

Host: Hyundai Motor Group

Adviser : Eric Kluitenberg
Production Adviser : Junsoo Kim
Graphic Design : Handi Kim
Web Programming : Max Baraitser smith
Videographing : Kwan-hee Yoon
Production Assistant : Min-su Kim
3D Simulation : Yu-bin Ahn
Diorama : PCS(Seung-hoon Yoo)
LP Sound Mastering : GODAM
LP Cutting : DeepGrooves Europe

Collaboration : Dey Kim, Kohui, Sunjoo Lee, Han-beom Lee, Hoonida Kim, Armand Lesecq, Þórir Höskuldsson