Episode 136: Performance
Sera lined up next to the hallway.
It was the same situation as when she first saw Kang Lim’s solo exhibition.
Since it was the work of a rising new artist, people flocked to see it.
‘If I had known this would happen, I would have waited in advance. I thought it would be quiet because my presentation slot was late, but it wasn’t.’
Looking at her watch, she felt anxious.
This was because the school’s open hours were shorter than expected.
After a long wait, she arrived at the entrance.
An Asian female student was handing out leaflets.
The sturdy leaflet glittered with wavy patterns.
‘The brochure is pretty too…’
On the back of the leaflet was written [How to Store Perfect Memories].
It was something that had to be done in order following the performer.
“Wow. This looks fun! It seems like an interactive art piece.”
“Over there, by the exit, they were also handing out some goodies, like cube-shaped key rings!”
She could hear the voices of the people at the front of the line.
Sera’s curiosity naturally grew.
‘Seeing that the back door is far away, it must be quite a large space. I wonder how it’s staged…’
When it was Sera’s turn, she cautiously walked in.
As soon as she entered and the door closed, she heard rough breathing sounds.
Sss- ha. Sss- ha.
It was the sound of repeated exhalation.
Seeing the scene before her eyes, she unconsciously held her breath.
It was a space where she had to learn a new breathing method following the rhythmic breathing sounds.
‘Wow… It feels like I’m completely submerged underwater.’
Waves were rippling inside the room.
It was the natural flow coming in from outside.
A large floor-to-ceiling glass window dominated the front.
Looking outside, she thought of the legendary sunken city of Atlantis.
Sera gaped at the massive artificial island floating underwater.
Precast concrete, strong enough to withstand the pressure, surrounded the city like a fortress.
Smooth light fell on the streamlined buildings.
Underwater tunnels wrapped around the city, and she could see a boat quickly moving inside it.
‘…Is this room at the top of the building? I can see the whole city from here.’
Sera admired the rippling cycling lights.
It looked like sunlight reflecting off the water surface.
“Hey! Please move forward a bit.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Sera was pushed forward as the person behind her poked her back.
A shimmering hologram. The floor that she thought was solid marble unexpectedly gave way.
The unexpected soft texture made Sera lose her sense of balance.
She saw seaweed in front of her, and it felt like her ears were submerged underwater.
Trying to lean against the wall, she bumped into someone.
A tall woman. She looked like a model, at least over 180 cm tall.
Sera looked up at her blankly.
She was wearing a metallic mask that looked like it had been crushed haphazardly in a junkyard.
The only visible part of her face was her mouth.
Her overly glossy, wrinkled lips…
“A#0109, how well do you know yourself?”
An emotionless voice.
Startled by the sudden mechanical sound, Sera took a step back.
The cyborg approached Sera.
Bringing her face closer, she continued to speak.
“Protect your data from death.”
She stared at Sera.
Though her eyes were not visible, it felt like she was seeing through her.
The suffocating tension.
As the silent gaze exchange grew longer, Sera unconsciously opened her mouth.
It felt like bubbles would escape from the faint breath she let out.
“We will perfectly organize your recent memories.”
The woman left after saying the final words.
She placed her left hand on the wall and circled the edge of the space.
It was a slow motion like swimming underwater.
‘Her clothes… They look like those lips I saw earlier. Alive like fertile, wrinkled land.’
Sera stared blankly at her back.
The dress, with voluminous sleeves puffed out and dense pleats from the waist to the hips, was unique.
The material was a combination of glossy rayon and transparent PVC.
The soft fabric accentuated her flexible movements, and the transparent material revealed her metallic skin.
Especially, the silver-toned parts attached to her limbs sparkled.
‘Her accessories are cool too. She made earrings by carving out mother-of-pearl…’
Following the instructions on the guide, Sera moved to the next spot.
There was a person whose eyes were visible through a mask.
‘This mask looks like it was pressed with a fist. It also looks like a brain…’
The man did not fit into the underwater city.
Except for the fish-shaped eyeliner drawn with dark gray liner, he looked extremely dry.
White eyelashes that looked like dust had settled on them.
Even his blue hair, which was messed up by static electricity.
“Here’s your phone.”
Sera did not realize that he was Kang Lim.
She only thought his empty gray eyes looked cold.
Without saying a word, the man took the phone Sera handed him and connected it to a computer.
The laptop had a unique case, making it unrecognizable from the usual design.
It seemed to represent a graphene-based flexible electronic device, stripped of graphite.
‘All the props are so detailed, it feels really unreal.’
The man processed the information without moving an inch.
He randomly printed photo files whose contents were unknown.
Sera looked at him with a gloomy expression, feeling nothing from him.
He was someone she found hard to take her eyes off, for some reason.
Zzz, zzz-
Next to her was a printer piled with multiple layers of seaweed.
High-resolution photos were quickly printed out.
Papers of different sizes, B4 and A4.
Sss- ha!
The man sitting in front of the printer was sorting information while sniffing the paper.
His crooked nose had a bizarre shape.
The cartilage at the tip was curled like an insect, making him look sensitive and keen.
‘I was wondering where the breathing sound was coming from since I came in. It was here. Did he put a microphone inside the mask? It resonates quite loudly.’
The man’s skin was smooth. It looked so moist it seemed slimy.
It felt like he had spread the mucus from inside his nose all over his body.
His skin was exposed through the holes in his clothes.
The surface had bumpy textures with a subtle purple sheen.
‘They punched a lot of holes in the fabric. Is it breathable clothing? It goes well with the fancy dye printing.’
Sera received the printed photos from him.
The last performer she met had his entire face covered.
He moved his ears and handed Sera two paints.
White and black.
“Paint what you know in white, and what you’ve forgotten in black.”
The mechanical sound was heard again.
The woman she met at the entrance was coming around the wall.
She repeatedly muttered the phrase written in the guide.
Sera laid out the photos on the fancy coral-colored desk.
Many spectators were already applying paint.
‘Come to think of it, I’ve been using this phone for a long time, so I don’t even know what’s in it.’
Sera had two phones.
One was for transmitting design confidential work, the other for personal contacts.
The one she handed over was her personal phone.
‘Ah, this is the pie I ate a few months ago. Mom made it.’
How long had it been since she went home?
Feeling a sense of longing, Sera applied white paint on the first page.
Hoping this memory wouldn’t fade…
Sera flipped through the randomly printed pages.
Even though they were recent events, many things came to mind as she read.
‘Did I leave such a comment?’
There were quite a few photos she had captured while browsing internet communities.
They were full of childish jealousy towards other designers.
The day after she got scolded by Alexander. It was from the employee who got praised by him.
‘Still, it seems I captured it to refer to.’
She continued to review the materials.
Following her traces, she painted forgotten memories in black.
It was a time when she struggled to be recognized by Alexander.
The intense emotions from that time came back vividly.
‘I live forgetting so many things…’
Looking at the last photo, Sera had a sad smile.
It was taken on the day Alexander, for the first time, was pleased with her clothes before he died.
It was the Christmas mocha cake she bought as a keepsake.
Sera put thick white paint on the cake and looked at the spectators.
People looked variously, some uncomfortable as if something was stuck in their chest, some happy to find unexpected memories, some laughing while facing each other, and some shedding tears of regret…
Memories surged like a tide, showing various expressions.
Acrylic paint, undiluted with water, dried quickly, and Sera attached her memories to the blank wall.
The wall was turning into a chessboard-like pattern of black and white.
By the time she was about to leave the dreamlike landscape.
Sera received a cube piece from the man who twitched his ears.
A six-sided cube that changed colors depending on the light.
‘Does this mean my memories are stored here…’
Sera thought the monochrome-filled space resembled the cube.
For her, this room no longer looked black and white.
A place where people’s memories are stored.
This place was not a world that could be distinguished dichotomously.
The further away it got, the more the space looked gray, like a place hiding various colors.
Outside, Sera took a deep breath.
It felt like coming up to land after diving.
Her fatigue vanished, and she felt refreshed.
“Wasn’t it a bit scary?”
“Why? I found it mysterious and loved it! It was so realistic, I was completely immersed!”
“I also had a lot of fun. When else do you get to see something like this?”
They were the spectators who entered with Sera.
People picked up their phones again to take selfies and record today.
“It’s unique, but it felt strange that I leave so much data behind. Like the phone knows me better than I do? We’re taking pictures again right now.”
“Doesn’t that mean there are many different ways people remember us? I felt like I had a lot of trivial but precious memories.”
“Right. There was that too. But seeing the performers move according to their set rules, it seemed to show that we could be controlled by information.”
“Wow. That’s an impressive interpretation.”
As the spectators left the hallway, they shared their thoughts on the work.
Something that cannot be explained in a single sentence. Something that makes you see the world from various perspectives.
Kang Lim showed a proper performance.
‘Fashion includes not only clothes but also makeup, hair, accessories… It includes the performance and the concept of space that shows it.’
What if such a person created a runway show stage?
Confidence began to settle in Sera’s mind.
‘To create a good plan, you must not miss any element.’
Sera decided to wait at the school gate until Kang Lim, who had removed his makeup after the performance, came out.
He was someone worthy of it.
Beaux-Arts Fine Arts Department, Professor’s Office.
Michelle was fiddling with a cube with Alfonso.
She felt good, thinking that the open studio had been successfully completed.
Many celebrities had come, but there was no need to worry.
“The students this year are really high-level. It’s amazing that they created such works in such a short time.”
“Haha. Right. I should hang this on my phone, the color is beautiful.”
Michelle attached a key ring to the cube she received from the performance.
It was easy to connect since there was a hole in the corner.
“Kang Lim seems to already have his signature color.”
Michelle nodded at Alfonso’s words.
This was because she had been watching Kang Lim’s work all along.
“Even when he worked with sounds, all the clocks were monochrome. Both solo exhibitions he held in Paris had black walls.”
“Right. There’s probably no one who handles black as well as he does. It’s a difficult color to handle because it absorbs everything.”
“It’s an absolute color. Personally, I think he used it better than Malevich. Malevich will have to give up his place as the painter representing black.”
Painters use various colors.
However, there are colors that particularly remain in memory when thinking of them.
For example, Van Gogh favored pure yellow.
Golden wheat fields, sunflowers, a terrace illuminated by bright lights, and star-filled night skies are usually like that.
The same goes for Mark Rothko and Kim Whanki, who represent meditative abstract paintings.
The two, who overlay paint to create colors not found on the palette.
The colors representing them are red and blue.
So much so that they are called Rothko Red and Whanki Blue.
“…It’s a pity there’s not much I can do for him. Kang Lim is already famous.”
All Michelle could do was give him a pass for graduation.
Alfonso, finding the sullen Michelle amusing, burst into laughter.
“Haha. You were also stingy with compliments, but to change like this.”
“Hmm. Should I introduce him to a curator at the National Museum? If a museum collects his works, people can appreciate them for a long time.”
“Let’s visit together when his next solo exhibition opens. You have connections with the Pompidou, don’t you?”
“Sounds good.”
Michelle logged in to send an email.
As she was about to write a letter, she saw an incredible file.
“…What is this?”
Seeing Michelle turn pale, Alfonso approached.
The email contained a video Kang Lim submitted as a performance.
“How could he have already submitted it? Wasn’t this the first time he revealed it today? Only students who finished filming externally would have sent it in advance…”
“Just click it quickly! I’m curious about how he filmed it.”
Click.
Michelle, puzzled, clicked on the email.
