Yeseul Song

Commissioned exhibition consisting of three site-specific installations

Exhibition:
Kansong Art Museum Daegu (Inaugural Exhibition)

On View 9/3/2024 ~ 5/25/2025

Exhibition info


* Full credits below.

Exhibition Intro

The exhibition, Hunminjeongeum: Acoustic House, strives to rediscover the modern relevance of Kansong’s notable collection piece, the Haerye edition of Hunminjeongeum in collaboration with a contemporary artist. For the benefit of the illiterate populace, King Sejong created Hunminjeongeum, an easy-to-use writing system focusing on the phonetic structure and principles of nature, and compiled these principles into the Haerye edition of Hunminjeongeum for wide distribution. The project started by inviting citizens to read aloud the Haerye edition of Hunminjeongeum. The exhibition presents the voices recording the Hunminjeongeum of individuals from Daegu and other regions and their unique stories tied to Hangeul. As an artist who uses technology and non-visual senses while fostering audience engagement in her creative process, Yeseul Song showcases three commissioned site-specific artworks composed with these voices and stories. Let the artworks, unfolded in space and built with sounds, evoke anew the devotion of King Sejong to his people.

* The recitations of the Haerye edition of Hunminjeongeum by participants were based on the 2021 revised edition of Easy-to-Read Hunminjeongeum published by the National Hangeul Museum.

— Written by Park Sunghwan, Associate Curator at Kansong Art Museum Daegu






Artworks

<Hunminjeongeum: Acoustic House> consists of three site-specific work that I created for the exhibition, along with the original Hunminjeongeum manuscript, which is the most important national treasure in South Korea.

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People’s Walk to Hunminjeongeum (2024)
2-channel sound installation and spatial design, dimensions variable
Commissioned by Kansong Art Museum Daegu

As you walk into “Hunminjeongeum: Acoustic House,” a 2-channel sound installation titled People’s Walk to Hunminjeongeum welcomes you. Two voices reading the Preface of the Haerye edition of Hunminjeongeum come from two different listening pods. It fills the meditative dark space while awakening the visitors’ auditory senses before they enter the main space and encounter the Hunminjeongeum book. The reading is performed by two prominent Korean linguists Kim Juwon and Kim Cha Gyun. Each of them vocalized the Preface in the original Hanja pronunciations and intonations as informed by their own scholarly work.



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Hunminjeongeum Chorus (2024)
16-channel immersive sound installation and spatial design, dimensions variable
Commissioned by Kansong Art Museum Daegu

Hunminjeongeum Chorus is the primary artwork of the exhibition and creates the space where the original Hunminjeongeum book is placed. It is a recital of 16 voices reading Hunmingjeongeum in Korean as it is spoken today, performed inside a custom-built spatial sound chamber. The voices were contributed by local citizens who have formed special relations with Hangul. The voices were woven together through sound design to form a harmonic chorus between strangers. Visitors are invited to experience the spirit and content of Hunminjeongeum, which is located inside a display case, while listening to the voice orchestra.




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The Story of: Hunminjeongeum Chorus (2024)
Wall projection, 35min 24sec
Commissioned by Kansong Art Museum Daegu
Video Design & Production: Mabasa (An Mano, Lee Susung)

The Story of: Hunminjeongeum Chorus serves as an epilogue of “Hunminjeongeum: Acoustic House.” The work is a visual representation of Hangul stories by the citizens who contributed their voices to the Hunminjeongeum Chorus. In collaboration with Design Studio Mabasa, the individual stories are visualized in the form of playful moving typography. While reading about the chorus’ experience, the visitors recall their own memories associated with Hangul.




Exhibition Brochure



Behind the Scenes




전시 개요

전시실 3은 간송의 대표 소장품인 「훈민정음 해례본」의 의미를 현대에 지속하여 발굴하고 알리고자, 현대 작가와 함께하는 전시 《훈민정음 해례본 : 소리로 지은 집》을 선보입니다. 세종은 글을 모르는 백성을 위해 누구나 쉽게 쓸 수 있도록 소리와 천지자연의 원리를 기반으로 쉬운 글자 체계 <훈민정음>을 완성했고, 그 원리를 「훈민정음 해례본」으로 정리하여 백성들에게 널리 알렸습니다. 그렇게 탄생한 한글은 한자를 사용하던 소수가 쥔 언어 기득권을 다수에게 확산하는 계기가 되었습니다. 「훈민정음 해례본」은 글자의 원리를 표현한 유일무이한 책으로 세계의 이목을 끌어왔습니다.
이번 전시는 미술관, 작가, 시민이 긴밀하게 협업하여 「훈민정음 해례본」을 함께, 다시 읽으며 출발합니다. 대구 지역을 중심으로 한글과 특별한 인연을 맺은 사람들을 만나 「훈민정음 해례본」을 낭송한 소리와 한글에 얽힌 이야기를 모았습니다. 대안적 기술 사용과 관객의 참여를 창작의 매체로 삼는 송예슬 작가는 이들의 목소리를 엮어 만든 사운드 설치, 인터뷰 아카이브 등 총 3점의 커미션 신작을 선보입니다. 공간에 펼쳐지고, 소리로 지어진 훈민정음 해례본으로부터 세종의 애민정신을 새로이 느껴보시길 바랍니다.

* 참여자들의 「훈민정음 해례본」 낭독에는 2021년 국립한글박물관에서 개정 발간한 『쉽게 읽는 훈민정음』을 사용했습니다.


Credits

Artist: 송예슬 (Yeseul Song)

함께 지은이들

• Voice and Story Contributors: 강귀향, 강지윤, 권숙희, 김기선, 김대희, 김명은, 김우진, 김주원, 김차균, 김태연, 김하연, 류경민, 린지 윌리엄스 (Lindsay Lotta Willams), 서춘지, 송춘호, 수니와 칠공주, 안정아, 원재빈, 오영석, 유동필, 윤나경, 이수인, 이향원, 전인건, 전정수, 천승현, 최형인, 홍숙희, 황하연
• Graphic Design: 마바사 (안마노, 이수성)

• Fabrication/Construction: 곰디자인
• Media Devices and Installations: 미디아트
• Lighting: 에르코라이팅 (ERCO)
• Documentation Video: 토스트스튜디오
• Research Consultations: 김주원
• Sound Design Collaborations: 다니엘 뉴먼 (Daniel Neumann), 최재훈 (Jaehoon Chol)
• Research Assistant: 찌아오티안 장 (iaotian zhang)
• Thanks To: 뉴욕대학교(NYU), 대구광역시 시각장애인복지관 대구광역시청각:연어장애인복지관, 대구삼일야간학교 더나은세상을위한공감 대구하나센터, 동명초등학교 시청자미디어재단 대구시청자미디어센터, 칠곡군청

대구간송미술관, 대구광역시 
학예사: 박성환