“I fantasize about a massive pristine convenience, brilliant gold taps, virginal-white marble, a seat carved from ebony, a cistern full of Chanel No. 5, and a flunky handing me pieces of raw silk toilet roll.“
In the World Trade Center, early 2000, on the North Tower, one morning at 6 am, a man with angel wings stepped out from a window on the 91st floor, hovering more than 1000 feet above the ground.
This stunt was preformed by a contemporary art group known as “Gelitin”. They had permission to live in an art residency in World Trade Center 1 on the 91st floor. They secretly suctioned a window pane, in between two columns, off from the inside. Afterwards they worked to create a “cantilever balcony” protruding out from the window. Each of the four artists took turns walking out onto the makeshift balcony wearing angel wings, while a scheduled helicopter flight was tasked to take photos of them preforming the stunt.
The photos and balcony diagrams were planned to showcase a year later as apart of an art exhibition at the Leo Koenig Gallery in New York City.
“Whether by coincidence or some unnameable cosmic force, the opening day of the exhibition was 11 September 2001.” - Maria Hassabi, Spike Magazine Issue 63
“I would kill someone for you, no seriously I’d never let anyone hurt you, I would kill for you, I would set this whole train on fire… I’d set this Asian guy sitting next to you on fire if I had to… yes you, I would set you on fire and don’t tell me you wouldn’t do the same for your lover cause then I’d really fucking kill you haha”
— overheard on the train
Happy Valentine’s Day
In Korea they used to have totems, carved into wood, at the edges of every village to ward off evil spirits. On the island of Jeju, off of the southern coast of Korea, there used to be hundreds of statues with big bulging eyes carved into stone, also with a similar purpose. I remember growing up my family had a pair of mini versions in our home. In the modern day, Korea's dominant religion is Christianity. Missionaries were among the first Europeans to visit Korea, which then was dominated by Confucius ideals and Buddhist beliefs. Shinto traditions were also introduced to Korea during Japanese colonialism, which often meant many homes had ancestral shrines. I was raised a Christian and it was how spirituality was introduced into my life. My family identifies their beliefs in Christ, but they often hold onto traditional beliefs that have survived over hundreds of years. My grandmother recently told me a story of how she took me to the Brooklyn Bay next to the Verrazano Bridge when I was a newborn to channel some sort of power from the ocean and the wind into me. Kamikaze is the word I thought of. Kami meaning god and Kaze meaning wind, although Japanese words, I mentioned the Shinto influences above. Beliefs change, but tradition follows. I put the face of a Korean spirit, a village guardian, on history's greatest sacrifice. Lets sacrifice this Western illusion. Let the pop music go please. I've lived my whole life with an identity crisis because I can't help but see this void in modern Korean culture that consumes itself and regurgitates the same thing over and over again, this disgusting fetishization of the same image, literally idolatry, and for me to pretend like I'm ok with it would mean the end of me and my art forever.
In 2018 I worked at a nursing home in Camden, New Jersey. There I met one Korean War veteran who was not too happy of my existence. After beating him in chess we had a nice conversation despite his racial prejudice against me. One thing he said I'll never forget is him reflecting on the first man he ever killed. "I wonder if I would've been friends with that man given normal circumstances." Something told me he had a lot of guilt for choices that was made for him by powers high and above. Sitting across from a 16 year old Korean boy, did he see the man he killed in me? Maybe I'm reading too much in between the lines, regardless, I don't remember your name, nor do I know if you are still alive, but I still remember the stories you told me. I hope the years since have been easy on you. Here's a portrait of you, you old bastard.
