The Banquet Hall of the Gods
Hyukgue Kwon
Imagine the earliest form of communication of humanity. It was surely non-verbal. Instead of advanced media, speech, or writing, ideas would have been exchanged through raw gestures, facial expressions, hand signals, and sounds. If viewed through the lens of today, such a scene might be seen as a failure in communication or even as an act of denial. Yet, despite being untranslatable, this form of communication likely enabled social interactions, facilitating the sharing of messages related to hunting, reproduction, and survival.
The work of Yohan Hàn evokes both the primitive forms of communication and the fundamental characteristics of its failures and errors. This is evident not only in the performances as independent media but also in their intersection with exhibition media, where it becomes even more pronounced. The artist uses various tools and instruments in his performances, including leather drums and other percussion instruments. In the exhibition Inside Resonance (2019), he displayed only these tools and instruments, presenting scenes that followed the performance. The traces of past movements, sensed through and by these tools, along with the past gatherings and exchanges that surrounded them, inherently accompany another form of communication or failed communication. Actually, it almost compels it. Thus, the exhibition suggests other movements and gatherings, where the actions, meetings, communication, or pauses surrounding the performance intersect with the following scenes.
Here, instruments that are not played or are momentarily silent are perceived as objects that pierce through the fundamental nature of communication. By unraveling a few strands of this idea, we can roughly trace the evolution of human communication. Humanity has long adapted to new environments by creating things from animal skins, such as clothing to protect the body in cold climates. This adaptation increased the chances of survival which led to migration, habitat growth, contact or cooperation with other groups, and the expansion of social relationships and networks. Over time, animal skin took on decorative and symbolic meanings. Wearing the skin of a particular animal signified membership in a group, helping to establish identity and strengthen bonds as a symbolic marker. These outer layers often functioned as the display of power, status, or social rank, thereby revealing the social structures they represented.
In works such as the performance Flesh of Nexus (2021), the exhibition Where All Places Are (2021), and Stitched Sound (2022), leather instruments created by Yohan Hàn serve as metaphors for communication tools that have carried the survival and cultural evolution of humanity, while also evoking the symbolic meanings inherent in their materials. While shaping wood and animal skin into instruments for performance, the artist imagines how the materials gradually take on the form of communication. This resonates with the attempts of primitive communication that sought evolution and formed social bonds. Furthermore, Hàn meticulously processes materials and crafts tools with his unique aesthetic sensibility, similar to creating artisanal work. The aesthetic exploration accompanying this process is not limited to conveying an intention but also overlaps with the extension of the meaning into a symbolic dimension.
In this way, the primitive social nature of objects and instruments emphasized in the work of Yohan Hàn reverberates deeply with the current media environment within his actual performances. For instance, in Flesh of Nexus (2021) and The Dialogues (2021), the artist—or sometimes the audience—uses an online chatroom to send directives to the performer. During the performance, he interacts with the audience live online, sometimes documenting parts of the performance process through these interactions. Here, the previously mentioned animal skin overlaps with the digital skin of the current media environment. As if linking the material world with increasingly saturated forms of immaterial/material and disembodied/embodied communication, different time and sensory outer layers (or skins) connect while various projections (or screens) converge.
Yet, the online environment—which enables his performance and may be considered one of the most advanced forms of communication—resembles pre-linguistic methods. Chat windows filled with brief text, emojis, GIFs, memes, and images convey messages intuitively, reflecting primitive communication methods where simple sounds or body movements carried substantial meaning. Just as humanity once used basic symbols to interpret complex meanings before spoken language emerged, his performance shares various details—before, during, and after the event—through limited text and emojis online. In this way, his work juxtaposes highly nonverbal, primitive communication within a concept of communication redefined by technological progress.
So why does the artist layer different modes of communication from various times and histories, along with their respective skins? What does this juxtaposed performance intend to convey? The online chatroom-based performance, conducted during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, recalls the previous idea of communication made possible through failure and defiance. In other words, it prompts reflection on the connection and sharing of meanings that, rather than merely appearing as failures on the surface, cannot be fully conveyed or synchronized on a fundamental level, encompassing exaggeration and omission. Whether using a drum made of leather or an online chatroom, in a performance where communication unfolds through a specific medium, different groups send only uncertain signals, yet they affirm each other's existence. In the staged scene, performers and audience members in different rooms gather in a shared space, confirming their presence and attempting to form a community that transcends physical boundaries. When different skins overlap, the symbols of each individual—such as those revealing social status or authority, or in the case of online media, the symbolism and influence represented by follower count—are neutralized, with the focus shifting only to functional similarities. The performance thus becomes a medium that creates, sustains, and develops a structure of communication intended solely to strengthen connectivity.
At first glance, Yohan Hàn’s work may seem like an unknown ritual, almost akin to shamanistic practices. This is likely because all actions within his work lead to a search for a pure community that borders on the supernatural. His work is usually in small groups, where participants immerse themselves in what seems like a ritual. These nearly aimless group gatherings often appear as some form of shamanic ritual. Open chat rooms are generally communal spaces where diverse people freely enter to share topics or interests. In Hàn’s work, the chat room becomes a space where participants—including the artist—and the audience exchange opinions, influence one another, and form a kind of collective consciousness. Similarly, various symbols, gestures, and music that become part of the performance feel like acts of communication with another realm. Throughout the performance, performers and audience members will surely encounter experiences that transcend the immediate conditions and their present selves, focusing on expressing emotions and forming mutual understanding. In Hàn’s work, anonymous individuals connect deeply without revealing their identities, perhaps sharing a “collective unconscious.” In the space the artist creates, they might experience both free connection and failure simultaneously, or ultimately, form a temporary community through immersion in an environment while disregarding failure.
As a medium for community creation, performance seems to reflect a form of language that emerged after the fall of the Tower of Babel and the collapse of the Arecibo Observatory—a return to primal modes of communication and network. In a time that could be described literally as a “communication breakdown,” the artist may intend to create a gathering that reveals and even transcends our current state which is paradoxically possible only through such failures in communication—perhaps aiming to foster an intuitive resonance among different entities. The tools/devices encountered in the performance space generate an overflow of narratives where symbols and meanings, individuals and individuals, and groups and groups do not align one-to-one. Similarly, the rituals occurring here and now transcend their framework, connecting and elevating. Much like a banquet hall of the gods, could this be the artist’s vision of a space where primal, essential communication unfolds?
Hyukgue Kwon (Curator)
Hyukgue Kwon mainly focuses on curating exhibitions and writing.
