Installation view of 《Michel》 (AlterSide, 2021) ©Goyoson

Fourteen Michels Over Fourteen Days / Park Suji

 
1. Do you remember the time spent in Michel’s room?

2. To reveal a world of mine that can never be punctuated—what a fascinating, troubling, and at the same time considerate thing to do. If one could call the tangible and intangible things he creates as sculpture, then his sculptures are just that. His sculptures seem to anticipate the temperature someone might bring to them, the distance between someone and the sculpture, the steps taken between one piece and another, and the sensation of a hand grazing over the surface. Above all, he acknowledges all things in motion, joins in that motion, embraces it.

Goyoson, 02. Snail Cage, 2021 ©Goyoson

3. The materials that cling to his hands are hardly rigid. As if long prepared, they reveal their form according to the direction, speed, and tilt of his hands. Materials that swell easily and sever without regret. The visible gaps and the infinitely delightful cross-sections of the sculpture. Even without imposing unnecessary methods or rules, one can recognize the small completions of his sculptures. The parts that protrude bluntly or extend unevenly are records of his solitary time—his busily chosen gestures. When it comes to those subtly elegant curves that only emerge after subtracting one more line from a bulging form, he is exacting in ways that aren't immediately visible.

4. Do you remember the gestures in Michel’s room? You must know that just because his sculpture cannot move on its own doesn't mean it is waiting for someone to grant it motion. A sculpture simply exists here—and will exist elsewhere. It is closer to the sculpture revealing Michel’s touch and warmth, his pace and weight. Without the sculpture, Michel’s gestures would have only stirred empty air. Without the sculpture, Michel’s footsteps would have wandered into endless blanks. But I think he would say the same is true for the sculpture. What he longed to see was the unembellished gestures of Michel overlapping with the sculpture. That moment when a pleasant tension hovers between Michel and the sculpture.

Installation view of 《Michel》 (AlterSide, 2021) ©Goyoson

5. I like the fullness that comes from calling something a sculpture, even when he himself didn’t insist on naming it as such. His sculpture makes you sense what lies beyond sight. Once, he gave me an edible sculpture, and I realized that eating is, in fact, a way of seeing. He also shared a soft sculpture to sit on, and I realized that touching is, in fact, a way of being honest. He played me a sound sculpture, and I realized that listening is, in fact, an act of choosing. As though embracing the world of each day, he said he wanted to hold an unknowable time within and alongside sculpture. That he wanted to share the time given to him with Michel. To let sculpture spend time with whomever it meets, to let someone move it wherever they please, to let someone even swallow it whole—that, he said, might be what it means to love sculpture.

6. Do you remember Michel’s color?

 
Michel : Im Seungtaek, Kim Sewook, Woo Hyejin, Choi Heewon, Son Jihyung, Ko Ancheol, Lee Sunmin, Lee Kyunghoon, Yang Seungjin, Lee Joonseo, Kim Doyeon, Choi Hoon, Lee Seungchan, Cha Jihyun, Lee Hoseok (Video Only)

 
For fourteen days, a different Michel animates the sculpture each day.

References