Sweet Rain Maker
Stainless Steel, Acryilc, Stone, Gravel, Charcoal, Sweets
380 x 250 x 250cm, 2014
Detailed view from Sweet Rain Maker
Osulloc Tea Museaum, Jeju Island, Korea, 2014
Detailed view from Sweet Rain Maker
Osulloc Tea Museaum, Jeju Island, Korea, 2014
Detailed view from Sweet Rain Maker
Osulloc Tea Museaum, Jeju Island, Korea, 2014
Detailed view from Sweet Rain Maker
Osulloc Tea Museaum, Jeju Island, Korea, 2014
Sweet Rain Maker
Stainless Steel, Acryilc, Stone, Gravel, Charcoal, Sweets
380 x 250 x 250cm, 2014
Installation view from Sweet Rain Maker
Osulloc Tea Museaum, Jeju Island, Korea, 2014
In shamanism practice in East and West, there’s always something ‘sweet’ (sugar, sugar cane, candy, sweet liquid, etc.) on the altar for the god or ancestors in general. In shamanism practice in Amazon, boiled sugar cane water was put on the altar, and crystallized candy could be found in Siberian shamanism practice. In Korea, colorful taffy made of rice called Okchundang was used for rituals like prayer for rain. The reason for this is because of the widely-accepted belief that ‘gods like sweet things’ in both East and West. In other words, ‘sweet’ taste is a catalyst for god and human encounter, as well as being an emotional imagery of ‘goodness’ which is shared by gods and human. What’s interesting is that in Korea, rain after a long period of famine is called ‘sweet rain’. The linguistic origin of ‘sweet rain’ can be found in Worinseokppo (1459) (5th year of King Sejo). The use of the ‘sweet' taste to express the much-awaited rain, desperately prayed for by farmers, signifies the idea that the rain is a cure for the heart which moistens not only the dry cracked-up earth but also the distressed hearts of the farmers, as well as a symbol of fertile encounter of god (nature) and human. Exhibited at APAP exhibition, Sweet Rain Maker (2014) is to be installed in the O’sulloc green tea farm in Jeju Island. It’s a sweet rain maker which temporary stores and purifies actual rain, turning it into sweet water which moistens the ground with each droplet (The viewer can taste the water falling off the maker because it has been purified). By actualizing the conceptual idea of sweet rain through this work, I pray, at least symbolically, for fertility of earth, and allows the viewer to experience the sweetness of the sweet rain he or she has felt before.
동서양의 샤머니즘을 살펴보면, 전반적으로 신이나 조상에게 올리는 제사상에 '단것'(예: 설탕, 사탕수수, 사탕, 단물 등등)이 빠지지 않는다. 실제로 아마존 샤머니즘에서는 사탕수수를 끓인 물을 제사상에 올렸으며, 시베리아의 샤머니즘에서는 결정화된 사탕(Crystallized Candy)을 이용했다. 우리나라에서는 옥춘당(玉春糖)이라는 쌀로 만든 색색의 화려한 엿을 기우제나 제사와 같은 다양한 제의(祭儀)에 이용해 왔는데, 그 이유는 동서양을 막론하고 예로부터 '신은 단것을 좋아한다'라는 사상이 넓게 퍼져있기 때문이다. 즉, '달다'라는 미각적 심상은 신과 인간의 만남을 이끌어내는 촉매제이며, 동시에 인간과 신이 함께 공유하는 '좋다'라는 감정적 심상이기도 하다. 여기서 예로부터 우리나라에서는 오랜 가뭄 끝에 내리는 꼭 필요한 비를 '단비'라고 불러왔다는 사실은 매우 흥미롭다. (단비의 어원은 월인석보(세조 5년)에서 찾을 수 있다.) 농민들이 간절히 바래왔던 고마운 비를 표현하기 위해 '달다'라는 미각적 심상을 이용한 것은 어쩌면 단비는 오랜 가뭄으로 갈라진 땅만큼이나 타 들어갔던 농민의 메마른 마음까지 촉촉하게 적셔주었던 마음의 치료제이자 동시에 신(=자연)과 인간의 흡족한 조우를 상징하는 매개체였음을 의미한다. 이번 APAP전시에서 선보일 작품인 Sweet Rain Maker는 제주도의 오설록 녹차 농장에 현장 설치되는 작품으로써, 실제 내리는 빗물을 일시적으로 저장하고 정수시키는 동시에 달콤한 물로 바꾸어 한 방울 한 방울 땅을 적시게 하는 일종의 단비 제조기이다. (단비 제조기에서 떨어지는 단물은 기본적으로 정수가 되어있는 상태이기 때문에 원한다면 관객은 맛도 볼 수도 있다.) 작가는 이 작품을 통해 관념적으로만 존재하는 단비를 현실화 시킴으로써, 상징적으로나마 대지의 비옥을 기원하고, 관객들로 하여금 한번쯤은 느껴봤을 단비의 달콤한 심상을 경험하게 한다.
In shamanism practice in East and West, there’s always something ‘sweet’ (sugar, sugar cane, candy, sweet liquid, etc.) on the altar for the god or ancestors in general. In shamanism practice in Amazon, boiled sugar cane water was put on the altar, and crystallized candy could be found in Siberian shamanism practice. In Korea, colorful taffy made of rice called Okchundang was used for rituals like prayer for rain. The reason for this is because of the widely-accepted belief that ‘gods like sweet things’ in both East and West. In other words, ‘sweet’ taste is a catalyst for god and human encounter, as well as being an emotional imagery of ‘goodness’ which is shared by gods and human. What’s interesting is that in Korea, rain after a long period of famine is called ‘sweet rain’. The linguistic origin of ‘sweet rain’ can be found in Worinseokppo (1459) (5th year of King Sejo). The use of the ‘sweet' taste to express the much-awaited rain, desperately prayed for by farmers, signifies the idea that the rain is a cure for the heart which moistens not only the dry cracked-up earth but also the distressed hearts of the farmers, as well as a symbol of fertile encounter of god (nature) and human. Exhibited at APAP exhibition, Sweet Rain Maker (2014) is to be installed in the O’sulloc green tea farm in Jeju Island. It’s a sweet rain maker which temporary stores and purifies actual rain, turning it into sweet water which moistens the ground with each droplet (The viewer can taste the water falling off the maker because it has been purified). By actualizing the conceptual idea of sweet rain through this work, I pray, at least symbolically, for fertility of earth, and allows the viewer to experience the sweetness of the sweet rain he or she has felt before.