WEBZINE ACC

# Hangul, an accessible alphabet in daily use

International travel has become a luxury during COVID times. If I remember correctly, my last trip abroad was three years ago. People are starting to make their long-overdue trips overseas, as countries reopen to travelers. The first step to becoming a world traveler is to have a passport ready as proof of your identity and citizenship.

It took about five days to apply for a passport and have it issued. I applied for a newly-designed electronic passport. Compared to the old version, it had many new features, including a different color and illustrations of Korean cultural artifacts and artworks, in chronological order, on visa pages. The unique design made it visually stunning. I personally liked the illustrations of relics from the Joseon Dynasty, which offered a glimpsed into the history of Korea’s scientific development.

I was flipping through the passport when I noticed holograms on the page containing my personal details. Raised letters appeared before my eyes on the laminated page.

When asked about the favorite king of the Joseon Dynasty, the majority of Koreans would name King Sejong. Among his many achievements, the most notable and important is the invention of hangul, or the Korean alphabet, which we use in daily life.

The new passport includes an excerpt from Hunminjeongeum, a document describing a new script for the Korean language which later came to be known as hangul. It indicates a rationale behind hangul’s creation – “To make it easy for people to learn and use in daily life.” Roughly 600 years have passed since the phrase was written, but it still remains relevant to this day.

# Hunminjeongak: Play with hangul

Tacit Group is a media artist duo consisting of composer Jang Jae-ho and electronic musician Gajaebal (Lee Jin-won). They visited the city of Gwangju in 2022 to showcase their works about the beloved alphabet, hangul. The artists focus on the geometric shapes of hangul (rectangle, triangle, and circle); its architectural combination of an initial consonant, a middle vowel, and a final consonant; and the fact that it is pronounced as it is written. With an unlikely mix of music and algorithms, they present interactive works that foster audience engagement.

Sound Wall and Sound Slope by Tacit Group are audiovisual works that respond to user-sent texts to generate and display corresponding sound and video, under the theme “Digital Interaction through Text and Sound.”

tacit.perform[ㄱㅈㄴㅁㅇ]

Jang and Lee already unveiled another audiovisual performance tacit.perform[ㄱㅈㄴㅁㅇ] at the ACT Festival 2022 held in November. The interactive feature that displays texts sent by visitors makes their performances easily accessible. The use of hangul, the everyday alphabet, as a visual element is also engaging for audiences.

I watched everyday texts I sent like ‘I’m hungry’ or ‘Hello’ appear on the screen, as they were combined with other people’s texts and broken down into consonants and vowels. The display and music changed constantly in response to my texts and others’. It was a fascinating artistic experience which allowed me to appreciate hangul’s formative aesthetics.

In addition to displaying mobile texts, Sound Wall communicates with Gwangju citizens by showing texts related to the city. These include descriptions from newspaper columns that hint at what the city was like in the past, as well as references to the city in renowned literary works, such as The History of The Three Kingdoms, a poem by Joseon poet Hwang Pil, and a poem by Lee Jip, a scholar from the late Goryeo Period.

Tacit Group’sSound Wall is on display from 8 pm to 10 pm on the ACC’s 75-meter-wide Media Wall and Sound Slope from 5pm to 7 pm on the Media Cube escalator. Both exhibitions will run until February 4, 2023.

# Art meets everyday life, and tradition meets technology

Founded in 2008, Tacit Group specializes in multimedia performances inspired by digital technology, interactive installations, and algorithmic art based on computer programming.

They were named PAMS Choice by the Performing Arts Market in Seoul in 2010 which recognizes Korea’s distinguished performing art pieces. The artist duo also made their name globally, having worked on the opening performance for the 2011 Aarhus Festuge in Denmark.

Sound Slope (Media Cube)

One of their works, Sujecheon, is about its namesake music from the ancient Silla Kingdom. Also known as jeongup, sujecheon was played as background music during important royal court functions and dances. This piece is another example of how Tacit Group incorporates traditional Korean elements into their creative process.

Installed in a small shop in the neighborhood, Sujecheon transforms a familiar scene into a new media experience. It illustrates how the artists make use of analog and digital items found in everyday life to produce art, just like they experimented with hangul.

Sound Slope (Media Cube)

The group’s other well-known projects, such as Hunminjeongak, Game over, and Morse ㅋung ㅋung, also focus on familiar, everyday items, including Tetris and real-time chats. The idea is to blur the line between art and reality, dispel the preconception that contemporary art is incomprehensible, and cement the duo’s own defining artistic style.

Tacit Group’s intuitive, entertaining, and unique works are based on algorithms, the backbone of computer programming. Algorithms are modern day technology, while traditions are old ideas. The two artists marry the old with the new and merge everyday life and art. If you have a chance to visit the Sound Wall exhibition, make sure to send a text to see this in action.

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