CURRENTS AND FAULTLINES 2022-ongoing
Various media (including film, video installation, sound, photography, archive, dialogues, and a forthcoming publication)
Currents and Faultlines encompasses a body of artworks realized since 2022 as part of Jane Jin Kaisen’s ongoing multifaceted artistic research project concerning the intersection of cultural preservation, the agency of nature and ecology, and the transmission of intergenerational knowledge from the perspective of island and indigenous communities in the Asia-Pacific and beyond. Filmed across various volcanic island spaces including Jeju Island, Pongso no Tao, Amami Oshima, Okinawa, Luzon, Hawaii - spaces shaped by the Kuroshio oceanic current and the Pacific Ring of Fire - Currents and Faultlines extends beyond fixed borders and geopolitical frameworks.
Employing the ocean current and volcanic faultline as central motifs, Currents and Faultlines raise questions about continuity and rupture, sustainable and destructive ways of life. Foregrounding the ocean current and volcanic activity, giant natural phenomena that have profoundly shaped human cultures, the project concerns the agency of nature, our relationship to the environment, and what is at risk of being lost in terms of the natural world and the diversity of cultures.
Currents and Faultlines looks at how oceanic cultures across island spaces co-exist with and are attuned to ecological sensibilities and embodied knowledges. Resisting hegemonic narratives and official state practices of conquest and expropriation, they constitute acts of resilience against cultural and ecological erasure. Through an interdisciplinary approach encompassing film, video installation, sound, music, performance, photography, writing, site-specific research, and a forthcoming publication, Currents and Faultlines, unfolds a dynamic network of dialogues and portray how human cultures are fundamentally shaped by forces of nature. By tracing and mapping different cultural and ecological entanglements across various island spaces, the project is invested in challenging dominant epistemologies and reimagining human relationships with the environment. Acknowledging the ongoing historical, cultural, and ecological significance of the involved communities, Currents and Faultlines is in dialogue with broader discourses on transnational and indigenous memory as well as post- and decolonial ecologies that contest enduring legacies of military and imperial expansion in the Asia-Pacific region and propose alternative modes of existence.
Participants and contributors: Song Youngmee, Syaman Rapongan, the Taishi family and The Community of Akina Ikusato, Suh Sunshil, Kitamura Minao, Koryo Oyama, Erese Dela Crus, Erlinda Ignacio, Carlito Ignacio, Jherico. Research collaborators: Archive (2023), Anselm Franke (2023), Hyunjin Kim (2024), Yoshiko Shimada (2024). Research contributors: Alice Nien-Pu Ko, An Mijong, Heo Nam Chun, Panay Mulu. Creative collaborations: Guston Sondin-Kung, Lior Suliman, Udo Lee. Research assistance: Man-Chun Chao, Miura Yoko, Pauline Koffi Vandet, Posak Jodian, Shih-Yu Hsu, Soichi Hayashi, M.Ishino, Soyoung Kwon, Sunyoung Hong, Zoe Yeh, Momoka Taishi, Ayako Taishi, Yaeko Yamada, Yukio Taishi, Tsutako Nobori, Osamu Takanashi, Miko Kumamoto, Rumiko Nishida, Masako Yamada, Jam Acuzar, RJ Likha Camacho, Karize Uy, Norman King, Benson King, Greg Dorris, Robby Tantingco, Guy Indra Hilbero, Raffy Dionisio, Jess Infante. Camera Assistance: Theo Bu, Grace Sungeun Kim, Mathieu Johan Hans Hansen, Orlando Thompson. Location Assistance: Jun Jun, Ronald, Jacob, Wigien Mark G. Tolentino, Igal Jada P. San Andres, Reyniel. Translation/subtitling: Ahn Hyekyoung, Han Gil Jang, Sunyoung Hong, Man-Chun Chao, John Stephenson, Yoshiko Shimada. Tao language consulting: Syaman Manalap, Haruka Yoshimori. Special thanks: Chou Chun-Hui, Kim Seongnae, Rebecca Jennison, Cube Project Space, Rngrang Hungul, Si Pehbowen, Shih-Tung Lo, Shih-Wei (Sophie) Chen, Sinan Manaik, Stina Hasse Jørgensen, Syamen Walamen, Thalaelethe Titibu. Support: The Danish Artistic Research Funding Programme, Ministry of Culture. Additional Support: Incisions, Hong-gah Museum, OCAC (Open Contemporary Art Center), The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Jam Acuzar, Temperature of Roses: The Cultural Cold War in Asia Project