You’ve already earned M.F.A. degree in Korea. Why did you come to the States and go to graduate school again?

I came here to find something that I’d felt missing and to see how it changes my life when I find that something.

It must not be so easy to decide to come here by yourself when there was no one you knew living in the States.

I had no fear. I was young by then. Well, I’m still young but before I came here, I never thought that “change” will be something I’ll be afraid of. One thing more difficult than language barrier was to see myself changing and going away from whom I used to be. Everyday I was faced with something new, different, unfamiliar and forced to make decisions. Adjusting myself to American culture was like, to me, losing my identity as Korean. I still haven’t figured out the mutual point yet. I think I’m still searching for it.

Tell me what kind of art you do.

I mainly do performance and document it on video and do another installation work with that.

But your focus of study in Korea was on sculpture. How were you introduced to performance art?

My colleagues told me that what I did on my first critic at Otis was a performance. Before that, I was not familiar with the genre.

What did you do?

For the critic, I was given two and half hours. I just sat there for one hour without telling them anything about my work. When people asked questions I answered them by clapping my hands, asking unrelated questions, saying random numbers and sometimes saying things in Korean.

How did they react to it?

Some people left the room, some came back with coffee, some turned on a radio loudly, some talked about their own businesses ignoring me, …

Did you plan to do that?

Sort of. It was my very first critic and I’d felt so nervous about it. I was afraid of not being able to make myself understood to others because of my language barrier. In addition, being in a position where I became an object of criticism was uncomfortable and critic itself was a very unfamiliar process for me. So the night before the critic, I thought about ‘How can I get through this without showing them that I was having a difficult time or I did not want to do it’. And I came up with this idea that if I cannot answer their questions, how about I ask them questions they can’t answer? Then, we’ll be even.

How did you feel about the reactions?

To tell you the truth, I was frustrated and scared to death for the whole two hours. I didn’t anticipate that people might get angry at me. I tried really hard not to show my emotions on my face. I jotted down how I was feeling on a notebook. Guess what I wrote? ‘I’m afraid, scared, what should I do, want to cry, want to run away,…’ But after the hours had passed, I found myself impressed by people’s reactions. If I did the same thing in Korea, people would stay in class for the time no matter what I did, not because they want to but that’s what they are supposed to do. But here, people were reacting to what I did.

How did you feel about what you did?

After that one hour of pain, there came a reward. People told me that I’d held the complete control for one hour and they began to show their respect for my work. Also, it was a good chance to show them that I’m serious for what I do. Through this experience, I got interested in performance art.

Do you usually participate in your performance piece?

Sometimes. I create a society in the space where the performance takes place and always make relationships between the audiences or between the audience and me by assigning them roles like I did in ‘Thousand Dollar Project’ or by providing them a certain environment in the space. And I always make audience perform for me.

So what you are interested in is the reactions of the audience?

Yes. Every action they take in the space and situation given to them. If the audience leaves the space, I take it also as a response because it is their decision towards the situation. What I want my audience to do is to think about the situation, make a decision, and show it to me. The direct interaction/communication between the audience and me is what keeps me going.

Is your work a continuation of your previous work?

Yes, in some ways.

Any ideas for your next work?

I’m thinking about making a space where people can listen to a “very loud silence” not just with their ears but using all the possible senses they have. You’ll see.

Who’s your favorite artists?

Sophie Calle

What do you like about the artist?

Sophie Calle’s works have an extra element, emotions, in it, which other conceptual artists tend not to have. I can’t explain it in words but that extra ingredient is what makes her work so ~ French.

Where do you see yourself in ten years from now?

I’m not sure. Let’s meet ten years from now. But I want to become an artist who is strong enough to stick with what I think is right.

You’ve been here for a month now. How’s your experience at Angels Gate?

I really like my space here. Also, the surrounding nature. If I could ask for one more thing, I wish there’s some kind of event so studio artists can interact with one another. B.B.Q. party would be good, I think, because it will give us a chance to meet and have a conversation about things, not necessarily art.

More images of So Jung, her works and her studio can be viewed on our Flickr page or at her website.