WEBVTT 00:00:15.494 --> 00:00:19.600 DHS: Once my fortuneteller  told me that I have five horses 00:00:20.412 --> 00:00:22.440 and that means that I travel a lot. 00:00:22.440 --> 00:00:29.193 So I’m basically destined to leave  home and live somewhere else. 00:00:31.840 --> 00:00:36.440 I think I wanted to leave  home because of my father. 00:00:36.440 --> 00:00:38.695 He’s a successful painter. 00:00:42.260 --> 00:00:45.167 Somehow I felt that his fame 00:00:45.167 --> 00:00:51.320 overshadowed me and I wanted to do my own thing. 00:00:57.480 --> 00:01:01.240 You know, New York is crazy, really really noisy. 00:01:01.240 --> 00:01:03.401 And I couldn’t sleep that well. 00:01:04.960 --> 00:01:10.675 And I was thinking when it was my  last time to have a really good sleep 00:01:11.600 --> 00:01:14.068 and that was back in Korea. 00:01:17.520 --> 00:01:22.600 So, I thought, like, how am  I going to bring that space. 00:01:22.600 --> 00:01:24.840 And physically it is impossible, 00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:28.837 so I came up with this idea  of transportable fabric. 00:01:32.720 --> 00:01:34.800 I want to carry my house, my home, 00:01:34.800 --> 00:01:38.073 with me all the time, like a snail. 00:01:42.219 --> 00:01:45.240 My house project, Seoul Home/LA Home, 00:01:45.240 --> 00:01:50.853 is a replica of the interior of my parent’s house. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:55.480 I grew up in the house. 00:01:55.480 --> 00:01:57.996 It’s a very traditional Korean house. 00:01:59.440 --> 00:02:06.979 My father built the exact replica  of this famous traditional building. 00:02:18.160 --> 00:02:23.160 I just didn’t want to sit down and cry for home. 00:02:23.160 --> 00:02:28.261 I just wanted to more actively  deal with the issues of longing. 00:02:33.440 --> 00:02:36.680 My mom helped me to find national treasures, 00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:41.000 basically people who keep traditional techniques, 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:42.914 craftsmanship, things like that. 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:50.653 Those ladies taught me how to sew certain seams. 00:02:55.640 --> 00:02:58.848 There’s an expression in  Korea “You walk the house.” 00:02:59.480 --> 00:03:02.766 People actually disassemble the house 00:03:03.240 --> 00:03:06.676 and then rebuild in a different location. 00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:12.680 So I had to make something that  you could put in a suitcase 00:03:12.680 --> 00:03:14.963 and bring it with me all the time. 00:03:27.720 --> 00:03:31.160 I was able to discover so many things 00:03:31.160 --> 00:03:35.200 when I was measuring and that was really personal 00:03:35.200 --> 00:03:37.186 and a kind of emotional experience. 00:03:40.480 --> 00:03:45.600 You often finds like little  marks you did when you were a kid 00:03:45.600 --> 00:03:49.403 and that brings all the  memories of your childhood. 00:03:50.080 --> 00:03:52.361 And when you go through that process, 00:03:54.640 --> 00:03:57.328 the space becomes really a part of you. 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:08.270 I really like this idea of my art  becomes a part of the architecture. 00:04:14.720 --> 00:04:19.068 It started from my interest  in the notion of space, 00:04:19.880 --> 00:04:23.440 particularly this notion of personal space, 00:04:23.440 --> 00:04:25.000 or individual space. 00:04:26.602 --> 00:04:29.360 Seoul is very crowded city, 00:04:29.760 --> 00:04:32.763 and on the street people bump into each other. 00:04:33.417 --> 00:04:35.160 And you know, somebody could just, 00:04:35.160 --> 00:04:37.123 you know, hit your shoulder. 00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:40.000 And that’s normal. 00:04:40.840 --> 00:04:43.070 But I realize that’s different here. 00:04:44.040 --> 00:04:50.501 So my perception of this personal  space has, I think, changed. 00:04:58.336 --> 00:05:03.320 It was just for me very natural to  think about the interpersonal space, 00:05:03.320 --> 00:05:05.720 the working at table space between people. 00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:09.520 And so that’s how this idea of individual 00:05:09.520 --> 00:05:11.579 and the collective came in. 00:05:33.640 --> 00:05:37.800 I intentionally chose that pose. 00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:41.320 If you look at the figures’ facial expressions, 00:05:41.320 --> 00:05:43.720 they don’t look oppressed. 00:05:43.720 --> 00:05:47.360 So it has kind of like a positive gesture, 00:05:47.360 --> 00:05:51.720 but what they’re doing is  actually just bearing weight. 00:05:51.720 --> 00:05:57.360 And I don’t really make any statement on that, 00:05:57.360 --> 00:05:59.324 its just really up to the viewer. 00:06:01.880 --> 00:06:07.928 I was asked to do some public  sculpture in this public place 00:06:08.560 --> 00:06:12.160 and I started to think about  what it means, public space, 00:06:12.160 --> 00:06:15.261 and what’s the meaning of public art or monument. 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:24.428 I tried to re-think this whole notion of monument. 00:06:28.400 --> 00:06:31.560 …make sure it is polished very well. 00:06:31.560 --> 00:06:34.112 I want it to be very shiny… 00:06:37.880 --> 00:06:44.787 Usually, its bigger than life size  individual, illustrious figures. 00:06:45.960 --> 00:06:48.872 But what I did was I took it down, 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:54.146 and make it smaller and make it into multiples. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:03.320 I just want to recognize anonymous, 00:07:03.320 --> 00:07:08.256 everyday life, people who pass that space. 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:21.120 For me it was more important actually 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:25.160 coming from Korea to the United States, 00:07:25.160 --> 00:07:30.200 and that kind of displacement,  the cultural displacement, 00:07:30.200 --> 00:07:33.760 allowed me to compare two different cultures. 00:07:33.760 --> 00:07:36.920 So I was able to actually look back 00:07:36.920 --> 00:07:39.880 and think about these issues of the individual 00:07:39.880 --> 00:07:40.967 and the collective. 00:07:44.460 --> 00:07:47.280 I scanned the portraits of sixty students 00:07:47.280 --> 00:07:50.880 from my high school year book into the computer. 00:07:50.880 --> 00:07:54.160 And I put my face first 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:57.961 and the rest superimposed on top of each other 00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:03.164 so it creates this average of one class. 00:08:04.360 --> 00:08:06.623 In a way it’s self-portrait. 00:08:13.360 --> 00:08:19.040 I collected yearbooks from 1970 to 1993 00:08:19.040 --> 00:08:20.360 or something like that 00:08:20.360 --> 00:08:25.000 and I see same face from different year books, 00:08:25.560 --> 00:08:28.154 so maybe we are not that unique. 00:08:35.880 --> 00:08:40.360 I was curious what we share and what we don’t, 00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:44.819 and how this sort of individuals converge. 00:09:00.600 --> 00:09:05.440 The whole Korean society is actually  based upon this kind of militaristic, 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:08.267 very hierarchical structure. 00:09:11.960 --> 00:09:16.640 When you finish your elementary school  you enter middle school in Korea. 00:09:16.640 --> 00:09:18.600 That’s probably the age of 13. 00:09:19.320 --> 00:09:20.648 Then you shave your hair. 00:09:22.160 --> 00:09:24.240 And then you have uniform 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:31.228 And it came as some kind of  trauma for most of the kids. 00:09:34.680 --> 00:09:36.985 And also you are called by numbers, 00:09:37.831 --> 00:09:40.640 you know number 37 or something like that. 00:09:41.520 --> 00:09:47.936 My number was 46. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:53.240 –Ok, ready?… 00:09:57.200 --> 00:09:59.920 Koreans, they all have this kind of nostalgia, 00:09:59.920 --> 00:10:03.200 this kind of personal attachments to the uniform. 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:07.000 I mean it’s the funny thing about the uniform 00:10:07.000 --> 00:10:09.082 because we hated to wear that uniform. 00:10:10.120 --> 00:10:14.842 It’s very strict and if you don’t  follow that uniform, you’re punished. 00:10:15.880 --> 00:10:23.634 But we tried our best to differentiate  our uniform from one another. 00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:37.880 From the moment you are born, 00:10:37.880 --> 00:10:39.800 you know you are going to be in the military 00:10:39.800 --> 00:10:41.920 because everybody has to go. 00:10:41.920 --> 00:10:46.279 So that’s a great deal of  the Korean men’s identity. 00:10:48.400 --> 00:10:51.851 I was in the army for almost two years. 00:10:53.160 --> 00:10:56.320 It was quite important part of my life 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:00.000 and I think it just comes out in my work. 00:11:03.440 --> 00:11:05.914 I found this army surplus store 00:11:06.120 --> 00:11:09.400 and the owner happened to be this old Korean guy. 00:11:09.400 --> 00:11:13.800 And he have a lot of free dog tags 00:11:13.800 --> 00:11:19.280 and allowed me to use this special  typewriter to type dog tags, 00:11:19.280 --> 00:11:21.334 you know letters and numbers. 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:31.440 Every man talks about his own  experience in the military, 00:11:31.440 --> 00:11:32.960 you know when you have a drink. 00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:35.482 And they’re unbelievable stories. 00:11:39.160 --> 00:11:41.200 I was really good at many things. 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:46.480 I was a sharp shooter and I had  a black belt before the military 00:11:46.480 --> 00:11:50.280 and I could run really fast and  that was you know very helpful. 00:11:50.280 --> 00:11:53.177 But the program was basically push 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:57.960 your psychological and physical to extreme, 00:11:57.960 --> 00:12:00.677 so actually you can kill someone. 00:12:05.280 --> 00:12:09.107 I really sort of experienced  what it means to be dehumanized. 00:12:10.190 --> 00:12:14.885 So for me like everything was  something to think about. 00:12:25.760 --> 00:12:30.568 In my work I can let other  people see things differently. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:39.520 I think this desperate sense  of displacement gives me space 00:12:39.520 --> 00:12:42.636 to have some kind of critical  distance to everything.