The Semiotic Action Recorded by the Body

“Empty space, action” is recognized for the first time in Hyunsil Choi’s work, in which several sheets of paper are  cut and layered. Here, the body is the material that opens up the space on the screen. As the paper is cut and piled up, the body's semiotic action is released. At that time, Jean-Luc Nancy's reference to “Body is, first of all, the inside that is the site of the formation and projection of representations” comes to mind. "In this case, the 'inside’ appears as something foreign to the body, in other words, as 'spirit.' Moreover, the body is sometimes itself the ‘outside' that functions as a sign. Here, the 'outside' appears as a dense interior, a cavern filled with and overflowing with intention. Thus, the semiotic body ceaselessly repeats the exchange of inside and outside, and casts off the extended in the organ of a single sign. “

Choi translates the actions of her body onto paper, creating a sense of form by stacking paper from one action on top of paper from another action. The variously shaped papers built up on the canvas interact with the physical and mental actions of the body. The titles of the works, such as <Shame> and <Beauty>, reflect the body’s actions, making this outcome a result of the naming process. The meaning of the artwork is already in existence before the bodily action occurs, and the artist gradually constructs symbols on the canvas while cutting and layering the paper.

If the act of summoning the contents originating from the mind into the body is considered "inside," then the act of creating a meaningful action while giving form to these internal contents is "outside." In her other series of works, such as <Sound>, <Wind Sound> and <Memory Space>, the artist brings the external realm into the “inside" of the body. During this process, the boundary between the inside and outside of the body becomes fluid and interchangeable. Through the repetition of these actions, the flow between the inside and outside of the body is either connected or disconnected.

After gestures and actions, what remains are things that cannot be signified. However, through the metaphor of action, <Shame> and <Beauty> allow us to name what cannot be named with the body. Looking at the artist’s work process, she gradually moves from the "inside" to the "outside", with the "outside" helping the "inside" grow into itself. For example, <Shame> (inside) and <Beauty> become <Sound> and <Wind Sound> (outside), and then <Memory Space> and <Sound Space> (inside and outside)

"The body is symbolized as an internal body: its perception is taken for what it is. It is toward this body of absolute significance, this body of super-signification and of meaning in the meaning of the body, that our semiotics, our memology, and our various aesthetics are directed. All the symbolic function, that is to say, the sensuous union of the perceptible parts and the cognitive union of the sensible parts, is fulfilled here." Therefore, the setting of the space she gradually presents represents the pursuit of dual occupation of the inside and outside of the body. It exists in a place that is neither fully inside nor fully outside, or it resides inside but resists the outside, or it belongs to neither the inside nor the outside.

Jean-Luc Nancy, Corpus

As the memory of the body and its sensory fragments move further away from the inside, they start to inhabit unfamiliar territory. In this space, the fragments of the senses mix and, in the words of Jean-Luc Nancy, “impenetrability penetrating impenetrability" occurs. The disparate fragments of senses penetrate each other again, eventually returning to the inside where the fragments originally resided (the place of the sender). At this point, the differences and heterogeneity created by the movement from inside to outside soon disappear.

Although the intersection of the fragments of the senses that have been turned into drawings with the senses of others cannot be fully explained by a symbolic system, the meaning is maximized through the form of letters that are sent and received (letters with replies). This is when the disparate fragments come back to the boundary, and the fragments of emotions (drawings) that have explored beyond the space are no longer confined to the inside.

Here, the artist attempts to bring the memories and sensations of the outside world, which cannot be fully contained, back into the conscious structure from the boundary between inside and outside. This semiotic action activates the reformation of the entire body through fragments of senses, memories, and unconscious actions.  The artist's desire to continuously convey inexplicable meanings to physical space and place draws us in, highlighting her persistent efforts to symbolize the language of the body into the language of our world.

 

Lee Eun-Joo , Curator of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, exhibition planner_Seoul, Korea