Placate-ring

In process showing Feb 2024 at WhatLab, Vancouver BC

Minah and Tad intensely play Jenga on a low table covered with a yellow cloth.
Photo by Cole Schmidt

What does protection mean to you and the world today? Where does a sense of protection belong? Are you in? Out? On the edge?

Photo by Cole Schmidt

 Three members of Art Action Earwig created a ring of protection with you, by feeding earth-bound spirits around us. Perhaps it’s an odd potluck where you can (b)ring something to share (if you want!)

Minah beats a hand drum and sings. Wryly stands behind Minah.
Photo by Cole Schmidt

Minah brings a traditional ritual song gifted by a Korean shaman. Wryly brings beats and vibes that ring the air. Tadafumi brings whimsies to charm the ring. The rest of the party is up to you.

Audience participants hold up a white cloth as Tad sprinkles rice into the cloth. Wryly beats a hand drum behind Tad. Minah beats a drum behind Wryly.
Photo by Cole Schmidt

Placate Ring had its first development in residency at What Lab in February 2024, curated by The Biting School for What Lab’s Exquisite Pressure! ExP allows artists to try something new, to share their works in progress with an audience, gather feedback, and put their investigations to the test. Audiences experience new work in a beautiful, brave, and vulnerably early stage.

Text set in a black box reads: What was your main source of inspiration in this iteration of the work? Minah: It was a Korean traditional song for warding off evil fortunes by feeding lost souls attached to the Earth. When I had the privilege to learn the song from a Korean shaman Park Pilsu, it significantly shifted my feelings and perspectives about many Earthly and spiritual matters, and I wanted to share it with my community here. When I sought permission from Park, he was delighted by my idea of experimenting with my immediate circle of artists and people who have different roots and cultures. He believed in re-creation of the tradition by people who need it.
Text set in a black box reads: Tad: Biting School’s manifesto that encourages to take pressure off of making something that is “useful” like a well polished product. I think it offers me more sense of freedom. My personal connection to the piece is that I was born in Japan, and I am aware of the history of Imperial Japan that oppressed Korean traditions and Indigenous cultures through the colonization. I am appreciating this opportunity to learn closely about them and find creative ways to honor them.
Text in a black box reads: Wryly: It’s about protection in the world now that makes so many people disproportionately vulnerable.
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