/Doreul-dakda/ is a participatory performance presented by Doreul-dakda Project, which invites the public to join in a moment of doing nothing but polishing up a stone. The literal meaning of โdoreul-dakdaโ is โto polish up a stone,โ but it is also a homophone of โto meditateโ or โto cultivate oneself spirituallyโ.ย
Fade to Blue, the porcelain objet
Park Jung Hongโs super-white porcelain objets inlaid with lines have been steadily gaining favor with many enthusiasts. Always accompanied by an elegant shape, the perfectly refined colored lines are recognized as the signature feature of his work. These lines are accomplished through a meticulous inlay process which necessarily results in leftover strips of colored clay. The mass of strips of clay is proportionate to that of a porcelain object. Instead of being thrown away, these are mixed to paste and fired, eventually being reborn as ceramic stones.
The blue lined segment is made by incising lines on the wheel thrown body that are to be inlaid with slip mixed with pigments. Sharper and cleaner lines are desirable and obtained by single firing in between incising and inlaying. This process is different from traditional Sanggam(inlay) technique where incision and inlaying on the body are applied after biscuit firing. It takes enormous concentration of the body and mind to create straight lines of consistent width on the clay body. Thus the leftover colored clay is a byproduct of a process that demands high functioning petites perceptions. It is the evidence of a struggle to achieve and maintain balance. It traces the energy of creation.
100 Stones
The one hundred stones presented in this work, reborn from the white porcelain bowl, shall become a different kind of ceramic โvesselโ from its mother that has been functioning as โto-be-watchedโ for an aesthetic appreciation or as a container.
After the single firing at 1280โ, these stones meet people, unpolished, exposing their rough surface. In the production of refined and sleek-end porcelain object like โFade to Blue,โ for instance, the polishing process is one of the criteria to estimate a certain degree of completion. So to speak, polishing is an act to determine a result or a completion. Therefore these stones, with their raw surface, shall still remain in the process, always unfinished, so that it is not by the artist but the public who shall try to finalize the art work.
Polish it up til you shine
Presented unpolished, the stones are waiting to be scoured by whosoever may encounter them. Each stone shall be imparted with a new meaning as part of the life of each participant who touches, pats and furbishes them. These constant moments of polishing shall gradually make the surface soften, then soon shiny. Things that seem never changing ย shall also transform through unceasing efforts, even getting beautiful.
/Doreul-dakda/ invites an audience to participate in the act of polishing that engages hands to closely feel the texture and weight of a stone. The act of touching and rubbing is the essence of the experience. A participant feels a rough surface of a stone in his or her finger tips, not the usual smooth screen of a mobile phone, focusing only on his or her hands while the brain and eyes rest. In an hour to three hours a participant may notice his or her consciousness and perception are emptied out. It may feel as if everyone including his or herself has disappeared and only the movement of hands remains. The energy of nothingness fills the exhibiting space. At the end of a performance, participants carry their stones to their home. What remains in the space is the energy that participants created together while polishing stones. ย
To polish a stone is to submerge oneself into his or her inner being, then emptying it out. It is up to each participant to imagine the finished state of his or her stone to be reached- shiny or rough-or s/he can chose to experience the thrill of completion repetitively without an end. In the process we empty out self-consciousness that is rooted in a society or an external system and our senses become acute to minuscule changes occurring in the external world. Through such encounters we reconstitute our sense of who we are.
Yujin Eugรฉnie MOON (curator)
Doreul-dakda Project for the 7th Gyeonggi International Ceramics Biennale (2014)
