“I Feel an Earthquake Everyday”
Thomas Hunter Project Space Solo Exhibition
EunSun Choi
“My apartment is located right next to the N/Q train in Astoria.
Whenever the train passes it makes a loud noise and my apartment shakes.
One day, when the train was passing by, I was lying in bed thinking that I feel earthquakes many times everyday.” -EunSun Choi
Many of EunSun Choi`s past projects involved sharing her personal experiences by placing the audience in a situation which evoked the same type of experience.
In “I Feel an Earthquake Everyday”, a room-sized, site-specific installation,Choi invites viewers into an environment that allows them to experience her everyday train earthquakes. For Choi this recurring experience evokes feelings of instability so fundamental it recalls all the other anxieties, uncertainty and tension we face in our everyday lives in society.
It induces not only physical shaking but also the psychological shaking that we all suffer.
Choi once experienced a real earthquake. She felt it as more of a sinking than a shaking sensation. In this new piece she tries to deliver a similar feeling by covering the floor with sponge material.
She has also installed LCD monitors that present current social and political issues in Korea and the US. These images are fabricated and manipulated through digitalization.
Some of them also depict her daily life dealing with her everyday earthquakes.
For example, while she is washing dishes or eating food, as the train passes, her startled or anxious responses to the train earthquake are recorded on surveillance cameras.
Other objects included in the installation relate to childhood memories that provoke anxiety and discomfort: a metronome associated with her piano lessons and teacher that she hated,
a Coo Coo clock that scared her – “the thought of a bird jumping out of a clock!”
A spinning Cassette tape player that is hysterically noisy has to do with her mother endlessly playing English lessons. Also included is a drawing machine that will measure the strength of the everyday earthquakes. The sounds from Choi`s apartment have also been recorded and play during the show.
Additionally, a personal microphone and amplifier have been installed so visitors can listen to the #6 train which passes by within a few feet of the Project Space.
This project coincides with the website ifeelearthquakeeveryday.com
Joel Carreiro
Curator
