27-31.08.2014MULTI-ARTS PROJECT II Annyeong! Hello!, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul

A collaboration between HYENAZ, Sylbee Kim & Nico Pelzer.

Through the aural and visual act of the procession, Spectral Rite explores the architectural condition and the institutional environment of MMCA Seoul. Berlin-based performance duo HYENAZ incarnate as androgynous celestial beings, beautiful monsters, hybrid street peddlers and warriors for justice. Their presence evokes remote yet acquainted spaces, archaic and future tenses, as they appear within the MMCA as familiar strangers.

The procession is guided by an analytic approach to the architecture of MMCA Seoul, and implies contemplations around the destiny of a space which could rupture into another field of parallel time that is both history and future.

HYENAZ presented four musical compositions with lyrics in Korean exclusively composed for Spectral Rite. Each station in the procession is connected by movement transitions and atmospherically sung language. Reacting to the condition of mobility during the procession, the geometry of each costume is embedded with a variety of inventive solutions for acoustic and digital sound experimentation. The pseudo-instruments recall shamanistic tools, weapons of war, futuristic media machines and recognizably mimic existing instruments.

In Spectral Rite, the voice suggests a pre-linguistic phase of sound, and attempts to overcome language-centered systems as well as the impossibility of translation. The movement visualizes a yearning for a unified hybrid of gender, histories and spaces. Spectral Rite is a wedding of physical bodies and the architecture of the museum. As warriors, HYENAZ intend to prevail over apathy and daily complacency of consumerist and institutionalized city life.

Credits

Direction: Sylbee Kim
Performed by: HYENAZ
Music: HYENAZ with Nicolas Pelzer, Sylbee Kim
Lyrics: Sylbee Kim, HYENAZ, Nicolas Pelzer
Costumes: Juan Chamié for EXIT
Styling, Objects and Instruments: Yeorg Kronnagel with Rilk Mob
Projection: Sylbee Kim
Coordinator: Taejun Kim
Documentation: Sylbee Kim, Seung-Bum Hong, Nico Pelzer
Supported by: Korean Cultural Center, Berlin, Mi-Hyun Park (Gayageum)