Enzo's Works

"TRANS" (2023)

Dates: October 21-22, 2023

Location: Studio Mong

Dialogue and Communication, Individual Expressions, Common Language

The project focuses on recognizing and moving within the state of transformation, even though it’s uncertain what form our changes will take. It defines the bodies on stage as , and the awakening of all senses and individual expressive languages as .

Forms communicate with forms, forms with phenomena, and phenomena with phenomena, engaging in a dialogue that seems to mimic communication. This interaction influences all senses and promotes change.

It resembles contagious laughter, spreading like a virus. Interestingly, while their communication might be seamless at times, errors can occur, leading to changes in different or opposite directions. What forms will they take, and which directions will they head?

"Hotel Meta" - VR Exhibition (2022)

Hosted by: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Korea Arts Council

Dates: November 16-29, 2022

Location: Basement 1, Yeonnamjang

Hotel Meta is a metaverse art exhibition created by four artists—Hyerin Kim, Myungseok Oh, Suryeon Yoon, and Hwayoung Lee—to communicate memories, experiences, and emotions from the unconscious and inner self. In this exhibition, the hotel symbolizes both the space expressing the artists’ subconscious and a place for empathy and solidarity between the artists and the audience. Visitors will experience the artists’ subconscious through the metaverse in a profound way.

Similar to how Van Gogh’s swirling and anxious inner state was depicted through the setting of his room in his Impressionist series “The Bedroom,” a person’s room in becomes a portrait representing their self based on the traces of their daily life. The exhibition features individual rooms created by the artists, centered around themes such as pain, nostalgia, curiosity, and discomfort. These four rooms are surreal spaces restructured from the artists’ personal everyday stories. Utilizing tools like real-time graphic engines and AI chatbots, the artists visualize their subconscious and inner selves, vividly recreating these as tangible experiences. Visitors can explore the rooms driven by curiosity and interact with objects within them. Ultimately, they share their own stories and participate in the conversation of the subconscious.

This exhibition uniquely envisions a metaverse organically connected to reality, offering an integrated experience of virtual and real worlds, as well as online and offline environments. The virtual spaces are designed to mirror the scale and layout of the physical exhibition, allowing visitors to walk through the gallery with VR devices. Meanwhile, their presence is also visualized in the metaverse, and the participation records from both online and offline visitors are shared and displayed. Additionally, these participation records accumulate and influence the objects within the rooms. This exhibition, created through the fusion of technology and art, discovers the potential of the metaverse as a space where artists and visitors assimilate and coexist, and explores new ways for art to empathize and communicate with its audience.

Exhibition Preface

Written by: Jinho Joo

This exhibition was created with support from the Korea Arts Council’s Metaverse Art Activity Support Project in 2022.

"Sensation and Discovery": Playground of Eight Sounds (2022)

Hosted by: Mullae Arts Village

Sponsored by: Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture

Dates: September 16-24, 2022

Location: Gallery M30, Mullae Arts Village

Oh Myungseok’s “Sensation and Discovery: Playground of Eight Sounds,” in collaboration with cultural arts planner Jo Hangyeol and technical artist Kim Huiseong, connects the eight natural materials used in traditional musical instruments through the ‘Eight Sounds Classification’ of traditional music. The eight materials—metal, stone, thread, bamboo, gourd, soil, leather, and wood—each contribute their unique properties to form a sort of musical score that traverses the space. The installation follows the linear experiential method of encountering objects sequentially from the entrance of a traditional garden. However, the variable in this setup is the ‘intervention of the audience.’

Visitors actively touch and strike the objects they encounter, producing sounds and creating a non-linear performance based on their spontaneous choices rather than following a prescribed order. This means that the music unfolds according to the intentions of individual listeners rather than the composer. Beginning with a question about the auditory experience provided by materials found in daily life, the exhibition explores the ways in which the properties of these materials trigger the emission and resonance of sound. The active engagement of the audience as sensory agents cyclically unfolds, deconstructing and recontextualizing the temporal and spatial characteristics of sound.

Excerpt from Culture+Seoul October issue, Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture

Written by: Hyunjung Moon, Planner

"Sensation and Discovery": Playground of Eight Sounds (2022)

Hosted by: Mullae Arts Village

Sponsored by: Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture

Dates: September 16-24, 2022

Location: Gallery M30, Mullae Arts Village

The project experiments with the possibility of ‘music devoid of inherent temporality.’ On the surface, questioning whether temporality is essential to music might seem trivial. Considering the music we are familiar with, the answer to this question is undoubtedly ‘yes.’ If we were to play Beethoven’s Piano Sonata ‘Pathétique’ in a different order than originally composed—reversing the sheet music or rearranging the notes arbitrarily—it would not only fail to evoke the intended emotions but also become unrecognizable as the same piece. For most music we encounter, the intended sequence is crucial, making the inherent temporality of musical works seem essential.

The seeks to explore the possibility of answering this seemingly obvious question differently. The artists focus on the idea that a listener’s musical experience does not necessarily proceed in the order intended by the composer. When we listen to the ‘Pathétique,’ we do not always follow Beethoven’s intended sequence. We might skip from the exposition directly to the recapitulation or repeatedly listen to a favorite passage. In these moments, the music does not unfold strictly according to the composer’s order; instead, the listener’s intentions strongly influence the experience. Could it be said that the inherent temporality of music is partially deconstructed in such experiences?

This project goes a step further by exploring the possibility of music without inherent temporality—without an intended listening sequence. However, if the sounds lose their temporal structure and are scattered randomly, wouldn’t they become mere noise without any order? Instead of temporality, the artists introduce ‘space’ and ‘materiality’ as the organizing principles of music. In music with inherent temporality like a piano sonata, sounds appear as structures with pitches and durations arranged in temporal order. We respond to the structural beauty and marvel at the composer’s temporal architecture revealed through the arrangement of scales.

In contrast, the project intends for sounds to be experienced as materials with spatial positions rather than temporal structures. The project’s sound installation consists of eight objects that visitors can touch and move. Each object is made from one of eight materials—metal, stone, thread, bamboo, gourd, soil, leather, and wood—corresponding to the traditional Korean classification of musical instruments by material, known as the Eight Sounds. Here, the sounds of the instruments are experienced in conjunction with the material properties. Visitors see and touch the materials, recognize their spatial positions, and hear the sounds emanating from them. Sounds are experienced not just as positions within a temporal arrangement but as materials in space, such as stone, thread, and bamboo, and the sensations they emit.

Depending on the context, the materials may harmonize with each other or create conflicting sensations. The Eight Sounds classification reflects traditional beliefs about the harmony and conflict between these materials (based on the Five Elements system). The project’s materials and instruments were selected to realize the diverse harmonies and conflicts inherent in these materials. Visitors arrange the materials and their associated sounds based on their own sensory perceptions. The sounds emitted by these materials overlap and combine in the space, forming a musical landscape. Visitors experience music not as a combination of temporally ordered sounds but as a combination of sounds with spatial positions and directions, as music with materiality rather than harmonic structures, as a ‘soundscape.’

Exhibition Preface

Written by: Youngchan Lee

“Exploration of Eight Sounds” for Live Electronics (2022)

Hosted by: Mullae Arts Village

Sponsored by: Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture

‘Exploration of Eight Sounds for Live Electronics (2022)’ is a reflective piece on the exhibition 『Sensation and Discovery: Playground of Eight Sounds』. Using sound objects and the Tahyeongo from the exhibition space, this work constructs electronic music by utilizing the movement of stones and the sounds of the Tahyeongo as central elements in a modular synth through live recording. The aim is for the music experienced upon first entering the exhibition space to feel different when leaving.

“Erasing Silence” for VR Artwork (2022)

Conducting Institution: Sogang University

Industry-Academic Collaboration: d’strict

Hate is different from violence, and it appears subtly in everyday life. We believe that the tragedies prevalent in our society today, such as epidemics, wars, disasters, and conflicts, stem from ‘hating each other’. This ‘hate’ has worsened with the development of the internet and social networks. We focused on ‘hating in the digital world’, a new social problem that amplifies these conflicts. In our VR project, we used digital elements such as texts, photos, and videos to illustrate our thoughts. We aimed to express the internet and social media world in an abstract manner within the VR space.

In our project, users must find and interact with 3D objects in the VR space, and by completing missions, they can solve problems and achieve positive outcomes. We wanted to convey to users that these small acts require great courage, but they can transform ‘hate’ into ‘love’ and actually help others. This project carries the message that we should not ignore everyday hate and should be courageous.

With the support of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, this project was produced by the Virtual Augmentation Reality Business Group of the Department of Art and Technology at Sogang University.

Sound Postcard "Tancheon River" (2022)

The NFT “Postcard_Charcoal River” marks the beginning of a series of postcards that capture the sounds and impressions of various spaces.

This piece conveys the sound and experience of spaces that the artist personally encountered. As the work layers upon itself, the diversity of sounds and experiences of these spaces increases, ultimately becoming an integral part of the artist.

Just as multiple nouns that describe me now originate from my past choices, the postcards accumulated through this work can serve as materials to explain my future self and to reflect on who I am.

In other words, this work is a record that can explain my future self and is a record of my future reflections.

The Elements for Electro Acoustics (2021)

Hosted by: Mullae Arts Village

Sponsored by: Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture

Planning, Research, Composition: Myungseok Oh

Materials: Jacktrip, Max8, Speaker, Analog Synthesis

This project, selected for the 2021 specialized [Sounds On] program in the music and sound art field, is the result of research into nonlinear composition methods using “Latency.”

The work demonstrates attempts to use network latency as a musical element and explores the potential to deconstruct the temporality of music.

"To My Mojave "(2021)

Hosted by: Art Bridge Co., Ltd.

Sponsored by: Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture

Planned by: E.C.B.A (Everything Can Be Art)

“Artists don the attire of art and possess trembling hands.” Through our work, we strive to touch art. We may not know where this journey begins, but what is clear is that we are steadily moving forward.

This experimental film was produced in 2021 through the “Art Vitality in Everything” program by Urban Culture LAB X Art Bridge Co., Ltd., with support from the Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture. The project was made possible with the support of participating artists.

"Salvation from Melancholy" For Live Electronics (2021)

This work by composer Myungseok Oh is an experimental electronic music piece inspired by the movie “Melancholia.”

Materials: MAX8, Ableton Live10, Moog Matriarch

Description: This piece is a transmediation of the film “Melancholia” into live electronics. The film “Melancholia” illustrates that one can escape the inferno of the self through the catastrophic disaster of the great Other. In other words, the atopia of the Other reveals the utopia of Eros. Composer Myungseok Oh, in transmediating “Melancholia,” expressed all the inspiration derived from the film through acoustic and musicological research. Additionally, in the process of transforming the film’s dominant and highly subjective emotion of ‘melancholy,’ he sought to find a universal basis by sonifying the portrait series by visual artist Richard Lewer to convey melancholy.

Sonification Project (2019)

1. Supernova (2019)

“Supernova” is inspired by the death of a star, which burns the brightest at its last moment, expending all its energy before ending its life. Myungseok Oh applied the image of a supernova to a dead pine tree. The holographic PVC, which creates a disturbance of light as if it is burning without a flame, is a crucial element in transforming the pine tree into a supernova. By stripping off the bark that accompanied its life and overlaying it with holographic PVC at the moment of death, the pine tree’s demise was sublimated into art. This process eternally seals the tree’s greenery and integrity within the artwork. This piece explores the deconstruction of the information recognition process, breaking down and recombining existence itself to imbue it with new meaning, showcasing Myungseok Oh’s unique artistic approach.

2. Olfactory Sonification (2019)

The sound installation “Olfactory Sonification (2019)” translates the images perceived in the process of scent recognition into sound. By deconstructing information twice, the work creates a virtual world within the exhibition space. Visitors entering this transformed space, which is no longer just a conventional exhibition hall, will perceive the sounds as an integral part of the constructed environment without question. Myungseok Oh uses this work to employ the constructed space and sounds as tools to express simulation.

3. Visual Sonification (2019)

The media art piece “Visual Sonification (2019)” translates the portrait of Marie Antoinette, a woman who loved perfume, into sound. Her image is projected onto a canvas through visual distortion. The piece, with no set beginning or end, exists in infinite variation. The expanding and distorting portrait and the ever-changing sounds demand viewers to recognize the diversity of information perception. It raises the question of whether one should read and interpret the grammar of an artwork or accept it as it is. This work form challenges viewers to reflect on visual literacy.

4. Rebirth (2019)

“Rebirth (2019)” is inspired by Myungseok Oh’s sound works. Collaborating artist Wonik Lee chose “aluminum foil” and “sprinkling” as his tools of expression for this piece, reminiscent of Nietzsche’s typewriter. In his later years, Nietzsche, suffering from deteriorating eyesight, put down his pen and took up the typewriter, noting the change in his thought process influenced by the medium. Similarly, Wonik Lee departs from the traditional medium of the brush in painting, acquiring a new language of his own. The result of this exploration process, “Rebirth,” encapsulates a new investigative process within a single piece of artwork.

"TRANS" (2023)

"Hotel Meta" - VR Exhibition (2022)

Decodification for Live Electronics (2022)

"Sensation and Discovery": Playground of Eight Sounds (2022)

"Sensation and Discovery": Playground of Eight Sounds (2022)

“Exploration of Eight Sounds” for Live Electronics (2022)

“Erasing Silence” in 2022 KES

“Erasing Silence” for VR Artwork (2022)

Sound Postcard "Tancheon River" (2022)

"To My Mojave" (Binaural & Audio Reactive Version)

The Elements for Electro Acoustics (2021)

"To My Mojave "(2021)

"Salvation from Melancholy" For Live Electronics (2021)

Sonification Project (2019)

"Zen" (2019)

"WE DO NOT RECALL" (2015)