Ceremonies (Yi Sang à Paris [iii])

june 29, 2010.

Mere hours before the opening of the Yi Sang à Paris exposition on wednesday June 23rd 2010, with Changhyun Park´s Pleinitude par les vides yet to be installed (a construction that modifies La Générale´s huge main entrance), the avenue Parmentier saw Rébus mounting a steep ladder to hang a number of white cloths, like flags, high across the building´s metal gate.
It was but one of the many Yi Sang related things that Emmanuel could be caught doing at pretty much any moment, be it day or be it night, in the run-up to (and during) this joint French/Korean series of events (a collaboration between the Parisian La Générale and Lab201 in Seoul) materializing in the year of the enigmatic Korean poet´s centenary.

Following the instructions of daily, Rébus is acting out an ancient Korean shamanic rite, to charm the spirits housed at La Générale at the start of the exhibition.

The evening of the opening we used the cloths when we performed daily's piece HAP (Integration) in La Générale's dimly lit projection and performance space. The Korean artist presented HAP as a prayer for good luck and a ritual act of laceration (tearing the pieces of cloth) for spiritual cleansing. HAP followed ideas and techniques similar to those of his sound cityscapes, that we helped perform when daily visited Paris two years ago. On the floor two sets of colored meandering lines were projected. The curves slowly evolved: one set starting on the south (SSE) side of the platform, the other on its north (NNW) side. One set of lines was derived by daily from images he shot in Seoul, the other set from images made in Paris. At the start of the performance there were five of us standing on each side of the platform. Five among the players held one of the cloths that in the afternoon were put up by Rébus in the Générale's entrance; some of the cloths were on the one side, others on the other.

Daily had instructed us to read the pattern of lines as a score. The pitch is highest on the west side, lowest on the east. Each of us choose a tone to sing, higher or lower, relative to the tones sung by our neighbors, and change pitch according to the curving on the line. We also were told to raise the volume while approaching the center of the platform, and there synchronize our tone with that of the player opposite it, thus to reach the loudest volume and synchronize pitch in the middle, where the two 'cityscapes' met.

There the holder of a cloth, which was slightly incised in the middle at one of its ends, handed a corner to the opposite players. We then crossed, and continued to the other side, with our advancing slowly tearing each of the cloths in two halves. The piece ended with all of the ten players reaching the opposite end of the platform.

HAP provided a worthy and concentrated start for the exhibition and events, which will continue in Paris until July 4th.

[ Rébus's uTube impression of the opening ]

There will be more daily on Saturday july 2nd, as part of the 'Yi Sang concert' in the Eglise Saint Merry (which will moreover include performances by Tomoko Sauvage, Pascale Gustin and contributions by Minja Gu, Park Chanhyun and others), an event that I unfortunately but most surely will miss, as by then I should have arrived in Schiphorst for this year's Avantgarde Festival.

The opening of Yi Sang à Paris began with a Korean ceremony, it ended with a very French one ...

...

On saturday afternoon, june 26th, in the Parc des Buttes Chaumont in Paris, there were performances by Marrion Park and Gérard Daniel [ uTbube's: Lecture poétique aux Buttes Chaumont | Calligraphie/Corégraphie | Calligraphie experimentale aux Buttes Chaumont ]

At the same time in Korea, Ryu Biho performed in the streets of Seoul.

It was evening in Seoul.

One could follow both performances in La Générale, where, by means of what maybe are best described as lo-fi hi-tech, the Parisian and the Seoul event were being projected. Rébus was in the Parc, and used his laptop and the public wifi available there to show us what went on via Skype.

Ryu Biho's performance in Seoul was broadcast via an iPhone, with the Ustream broadcaster application.

Whereas the Paris performance took place against the quiet and peaceful background of Parisians sunbathing, it was raining cats and dogs in Seoul...

People had gathered outside in the evening rain to watch the World Cup match, that had the South Korean team meet that of Uruguay, on a public screen. Ryu Biho walked among them, launching soft balls with a baseball bat. Inside each of the balls there was a little piece of paper with a short message.

South Korea lost their match against Uruguay.

I imagine at least one of the soccer fans that evening in Seoul finding back a Ryu Biho ball in her pocket, thoughtlessly picked up and put there in the heat of watching the game, and then reading the message on her way back home.

불현듯 당신이 세상과 동떨어져 홀로있다는 공포감을 느낀다면, 신문을 가늘게 찢어 연결하여 '줄'을 만들어라.
(The messages of course were written in Korean, but Hye-Young translated them for us in French.)
Si vous vous sentez brusquement seul, isolé du reste du monde, fabriquez une corde en déchirant très finement des papiers journeaux.

[ Yi Sang à Paris: Est-ce que la ligne a assassiné le cercle ?, La Générale, 14 avenue Parmentier, Paris XI. June 23rd - July 4th, daily from 15h. See the complete program at yisang.fr. ]

[ next Yi Sang entry: 'And what about Yi Sang?' :: previous Yi Sang entry: 'Read me a poem, Yi Sang!' ]

tags: Yi Sang, Paris

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