CORE, 2024

Single channel film. 4K. Color. Stereo sound. Duration: 12 min.


Core unfolds inside a 700-meter-deep former lava tube that remains as a cave in Jeju Island. Water drips from the richly textured walls and ceiling and the sediments on the ground are palpable in the dark. A UNESCO Natural World Heritage site, the cave is known as Sagul or Serpent Cave, the entrance of the cave resembles a serpent with its mouth wide open while the winding, narrowing tunnel composes its body. According to legend, a giant snake living in the cave demanded the yearly sacrifice of a young girl. However, the lava tube also resembles the interior of a long umbilical cord leading into the womb of Earth itself. Here deep time and the instantaneous moment concur. Anterior to sense-making and meaning-making, solemnness prevails. The empty-full breath of creation. 


Directed and edited by Jane Jin Kaisen. Director of Photography: Guston Sondin-Kung. Music: Lior Suliman. Colorist: Edoardo Rebecchi. Production assistance: Soyoung Kwon, Theo Bu. With special thanks: Jeju World Natural Heritage Center, Jin Seok Ki, Yoram Vazan, Ahn Hyekyoung, Seo Sunshil, Ahn Mi-Jeong. Supported by: The Danish Artistic Research Funding Programme, Ministry of Culture and Korea Artist Prize, Prize from National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea and SBS Foundation