The Library of Alexandria of Ancient Egypt known to have been the biggest library of the world, was destroyed by invasion; in two incidents in ChinaㅡFenshu Kengru and Cultural Revolutionㅡbooks were burned and intellectuals were killed. This line of history paradoxically shows, through the events of enormous loss of documents, how ideologies are composed and operated.
In today’s world in which data is linked to the illusion of capital as tech corporations curate and solidify grand fictions by monopolizing data, The Internet Archive is an online platform that assumes itself to be the digital version of the Library of Alexandria. It digitalizes and preserves the intellectual products of mankind. Its limit in physical capacity, however, becomes an inevitable reason for the disappearance of a vast amount of data.
In order to look into this fiction, Our Temple adopts the strategy of bringing an even greater fiction by means of summoning deleted and lost data on the web. Will they function as a counter-narrative that exceeds the grand epic of this abstract world? On the stage that metaphorizes the dataficated library, the lost data prompt the audience to reconsider how our notions and beliefs are composed and question the patterns and authenticity of illusory constructs proliferating on ungrounded values.
Concept·Direction: Kim Jisun
Research Supervision: Kim Jisun, Kang Yoonzee
Research: Bien Yehbonne
Performers: Kang Yoonzin, Kim Yeji, Mun Hakjin, Lee Wonho
Technical Stage Manager: Kim Jimmy
Sound Design·Technician: Kim Guenchae
Music·Sound Design: Kim Jee Hyun
Research Advisory: Jeon Hyo Gyoung
Translation: Kim Shinu
Performance Documentation Video: Something New Studio
Stage Crew: Kim Min-joong
Supported by Arts Council Korea & Institute for Culture and Arts, Seoul National University
Set-up Assistants: Kim Yeonsu, Seo Jiyeon, Won Jisu, Choi Eonyeong
Kim Jisun has been developing an open form of performative projects, which raises an objection to institutionalized actions or designated spaces in the global environment. From subtle interventions in politically symbolic ocassions such as election campaigns of Seoul mayoral candidates, G20 Summit and Gwanghwamun Square, to serious contemplation on the (im)possibility of revolution in the virtual space of computer games, she moves between reality and imagination, creating works where sarcastic play and critical acuteness unstabilize each other. While boldly embracing new technologies including robotics and AI as well as internet and games, she doesn’t recycle them as materials for a spectacle but rather creates a critical distance towards system, offering sharp insight on the conditions of digital culture. She builds an original artistic world that is not captured by existing genres and forms.