The TAL/Voyager project represents a special union between South Korea and New Zealand companies. Creative New Zealand toi Aotearoa support has enabled this international collaboration.
GCA director, Daniel Belton met DUOBUD at the 2019 Performing Arts Market in Seoul. It was one of those remarkable connections where artists from different cultures inspire each other and a creative dialogue begins. Since that time GCA has enjoyed a spirited rapport with DUOBUD and their producer Casey Ahn. The TAL/Voyager project now shares our first outcome as a visual and sonic poem through music and digital dance with film.
Comprised of Jang-gu percussionist Sora Kim, and string player Jihye Lim, well recognised for her sensitive and lyrical music, DUOBUD reinterprets nature and the universe, the main motives of Korean folk, with the explosive energy of percussion and the delicate melody of strings - expanding the potential of instruments and the genre of tradition. Their music communicates with the contemporary as it transcends boundaries lying in traditional music structures and embraces elements from other genres of music - preserving the intrinsic style and beauty of Korean folk simultaneously.
TAL has many meanings through different languages - in Korea it translates as ‘Mask, Escape, Liberation’. Our film travels between cultures and emotions, bridging across the geographical edges of Aotearoa New Zealand and South Korea. This work links land, air and water to human journeying through dance, percussion and the Korean zither, Gayageum.
TAL/Voyager offers an intimate vista where both dancer and musician co-exist inside the filmed architecture of the Gayageum itself. Weather atmospherics and motion graphics reference polar regions of Earth through a series of interwoven scenes, warmed by the vibrating presence of a traditional bronze water-cymbal. Overlaid with bespoke 'Flower of Life' geometries, this fluid illumination alludes to the power of Sunlight and speaks of Universal lore through lattice patterns within Nature. The Sun's heat supports ocean currents and creates the vital climactic cycles that move rain-winds to replenish the land.
Dance artist Christina Guieb and zither player Jihye Lim, build their dialogue founded in the language of sound, gesture and breath. Guieb's roaming dance reaches to the horizon, crossing time and space.
Gamsa hamnida Casey Ahn and DUOBUD, our Korean friends. Thank you for your inspiring partnership!
Ngā mihi maioha, Good Company Arts
Film Link:
https://vimeo.com/dbel/voyager-tal-ellipse
