ALEXANDMUSHI, Still Conversation: San Francisco and Seoul #49, 2020. Archival Print and handwritten stories. 38.75” x 60”. Edition of 3 + 2 AP. Courtesy of Artist and Modernism Inc. Gallery.
Conversations’ is a conversation that takes place between Seoul and San Francisco. STILL as as in photograph, STILL as in this is ‘still’ a conversation. An on-going practice of copying each other’s bodies exploring how we can physically share an experience without being physically together.
Physical distance became a real issue in the beginning of our collaboration because Mushi often needed to return to Seoul for visa issues. Sometimes when we are communicating with others we can’t imagine where they are, where they are coming from or the history that is embedded in their bodies. Alex had this idea while she was looking through Francesca Woodman’s book. “There is something I want to understand and I want to work it out in images - create a project.” The idea was simple Mushi takes a picture of himself in Seoul, sends it and Alex copies.
The images look formal and elegant on the surface, a white wall, a chair and a person — but one chair is in a wooden house in San Francisco—the other is in a concrete high-rise apartment in Seoul. Constructed from a long tradition of art and graphic design rules around composition and light we first see white backgrounds and a controlled palette of black, white and red. These colors relating to the history of DADA graphics. There is this feeling that the images are taken in the same place at the same time. But there is a vast time difference, an ocean, culture and history behind this simple beauty. A man and a woman, Seoul and San Francisco, places and persons of complex histories struggling with identity, behind the hair are the faces that endure the pain and nakedness of sharing, letting go of their own territories striving to connect.
In this exhibited piece “Days since I’ve Known you”, we have added handwritten stories from our personal histories to the photographs. Writing is at the forefront of our practice. We are constantly writing individually and together, exploring our individual identities inside the context of our collaboration. Here we want to share the power of bringing two people and two histories together to form a new thing that neither individual can make alone.
ALEXANDMUSHI talking about Still Conversations during the pandemic.
For re.riddle’s Hatch series, artists ALEXANDMUSHI will participate in the Villa SF micro-residency from Sept. 11-18, 2020. During the residency, they will perform a ‘Chair Conversation’. Date and time to be announced.
‘Chair conversations’ is a complex practice of communication using our bodies. It exists in many realms; as a durational practice over five years, as a marker of time and exploration of ‘other’ using the body as a vehicle, a secret journaling of each perspective withheld from even ourselves, it is performed in public spaces and institutions, and is a series of integrated images and videos.
How does the language of touch operate as a mode of communication in our lives? All of us talk all day and all night. We know each other through words. To touch is simple, not requiring the intellect but only the senses. There are things that can’t be said with words but only touch. There is an emotional and physical space that is entered when we move someone’s body through our own thoughts and emotions. What is it like to be given a full opportunity to ‘speak’ and ‘hear’ using only the body, uninterrupted? What role does this language play in our lives?
The structure of this project is simple. A chair is placed in a public space. Each person takes a turn in leading while the other must sit in the chair, eyes closed without moving. The other person communicates by moving and manipulating the sitting person’s body. Once done the roles are switched and it is the next person’s turn. The project is placed in both public and private sites in which the environment also impacts the exploration of the conversation being held. ‘Chair Conversations’ is durational: 20-40 minutes. This is an immersive and intimate psychological study of human connection.
Image credit: ALEXANDMUSHI, Chair Conversation, 2019, The Body Electric, curated by re.riddle in partnership with Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, 49 Ross Alley, SF.
ALEXANDMUSHI’s past Chair Conversations in San Francisco, New Orleans and New York.
ALEXANDMUSHI made of Alex Nichols & Mushi Wooseong James. Two names, two people and in between all the bodies of work are thousands of conversations. Their work is a testing ground to see all the ways in which two people can forge a connection. Art has the ability to tackle hard questions, and they tackle those questions in open and playful forms.
Communication is at a critical low, misunderstanding between people and countries is only growing. As collaborators they are discovering something about human relationships, about bonds, synchronicity, and solving together.
Their work is a complex practice of ‘connection’ using ourselves as the testing ground. It exists in many realms; as a durational practice over five years, as a marker of time and exploration of ‘other’, recorded conversations, performances in public spaces and institutions, a series of integrated images and videos that document our process.
“What is the powerful emotional experience we bring? As collaborators coming from different countries, genders and generations they use direct intimate stories, putting our own emotions on the front line, showing how two people perceive, it’s an intimate and vulnerable act. We feel that what is at stake far exceeds our personal fears. At risk is our connection with one another. We challenge the constructs we were born into. We unite daily, driven to make something that cannot be forged alone. We create a safe testing ground where projects become entry points into the boundaries of ourselves. “ - ALEXANDMUSHI