Heejung Shin

Engage by Difference, is a collaborative work with Aldo Martinez Munoz, and was planned as a gesture of showing gratitude and distance. Food is always better to share; it helps people gather, makes them get to know each other. We share friendly time when having meals together. But before the shared time, each person has his/her own time that is culturally very different to another¡¯s time. Especially, when food is more ¡°authentic,¡± the difference can be more recognized. Such a cultural difference is a wall, and I am not saying that this wall can be collapsed simply by sharing food together. Rather, what I want to do is to visualize the wall that generates distance between people. I talk about my darkest secret in Korean in the performance, but, obviously, it could not reach people. Body language could overcome the wall; this supports me emotionally, and sometimes it¡¯s more helpful than any other things. People are different, and such relationship is not as permanent as paper towels and disposable bracelets. Yet the short moments we had together (it can only be the time of this performance, or perhaps the three years of our shared study and practice) will be remembered. I don¡¯t believe in the concept of a peaceful, permanent union between groups of different race, gender, sexuality, class, and ethnicity. What matters for me is the short, supportive time that I and other individuals have shared.

Sponsored by GSA and UCSD Vis Arts