Moss-이끼
Marco Barotti, Keumhwa Kim, Jung-Hwa Kim
30.09 to 03.10.2022
ZER01NE
MOSS-이끼: Kinetic Sound Sculpture, 2022 Moss, Realtime Air Quality Data, Sound, 100(W)*190(D)*100(H)cm
MOSS-이끼: Documentary Film, 2022, 3 Screens, HD Video, Sound, approx. 03:00–06:30 min
Moss is one of the first terrestrial plants. It is a hyper plant species with superpowers. It demonstrates strong vitality in harsh conditions and extreme environments. It is a bio-indicator of air pollution; it functions as a carbon storage ‘tank’; and it contributes to biodiversity by harmoniously co-existing with other plant species and insects.
The MOSS-이끼 team—Marco Barotti, Keumhwa Kim, and Jung-Hwa Kim—is an interdisciplinary art research group that explores strategies for a sustainable future. During the ZER01NE Day exhibition—from September 30 to October 3, 2022—the team will present a kinetic sound sculpture using real-time air quality data and mosses from Korea, as well as a documentary film, featuring interviews with Korean moss and air quality experts.
The kinetic sound sculpture is driven by live air quality data generated by AirKorea, the World Air Quality Index, and the Sensor Community platform. It is programmed to analyze the air quality of Korean and global cities and reinterpret the data with breathing patterns, movements, and evolving soundscapes: from Seoul to Berlin, Gwangju, and Beijing. The audience is able to experience in real-time the world's air quality transformed into a kinetic sound installation. The living sculpture, which consists of 10 representative moss species from Seonheul Gotjawal on Jeju Island to the DMZ, invites the audience to a sensory experience through the movement, sounds, and scents of mosses.
MOSS-이끼 includes a documentary film made up of five interviews with bryologists, moss gardeners, and one air quality researcher. The interviews guide visitors from Gotjawal to moss gardens and research institutes. It aims to communicate the ecological conditions and expressions of mosses from various perspectives. The film invites the audience to discover the potential of moss as an aesthetic medium that connects humans, other living agencies, and technology, and synesthetically reinterprets and transmits data on air pollution and climate change.
Through this collaboration, the MOSS-이끼 team draws on the artistic practice of "Staying with the Trouble", a survival guide on the Earth, written by the biologist, scientist, and feminist Donna J. Haraway. In the face of rapid environmental change, MOSS-이끼 highlights the symbiotic relationship between one of the planet’s oldest plants and data science in order to explore solutions for a sustainable future.
