music eternal light art MELA FOUNDATION INC. 275 Church Street New York NY 10013 www.melafoundation.org [email protected] t.212-925-8270
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
A r t i s t i c D i r e c t o r s JUNG HEE CHOI - AHATA ANAHATA, MANIFEST UNMANIFEST X L a M o n t e Y o u n g August 18th - October 8th, MELA Foundation Dream House M a r i a n Z a z e e l a
H o n o r a r y D i r e c t o r P a n d i t P r a n N a t h ( 1 9 1 8 - 1 9 9 6 )
B o a r d o f D i r e c t o r s J o n H e n d r i c k s P r e s i d e n t M i c h a e l L . C o m m o n s V i c e – P r e s i d e n t J u n g H e e C h o i V i c e – P r e s i d e n t K e n t D. U n d e r w o o d S e c r e t a r y P a t r i c e M i l l e r S e c r e t a r y E x – O f f i c i o C h a r l e s C u r t i s A l e x D e a T e r r y R i l e y D i a n e W a k o s k i
A d v i s o r y B o a r d B o b B i e l e c k i R o b e r t W . C l a r i d a P a u l a C o o p e r C h r i s t o p h e r D a r k W i l l i a m D a w e s D a v i d H a r r i n g t o n W u l f H e r z o g e n r a t h D e n n i s J o h n s o n Jung Hee Choi, “Ahata Anahata, Manifest Unmanifest IX,” 2015, 23 x 14 feet. Dia 15 VI 13 545 West 22 Street Dream House, Dia Art Foundation G a r y M c G e e K u r t M u n k a c s i J o n a t h a n R o s e R o g e r Z i s s u P a u l Z u k o f s k y New York, NY (August 18, 2016) - MELA Foundation presents the annual exhibition of Jung Hee Choi's Ahata Anahata, Manifest Unmanifest X from August 18 through October 8 in the MELA
Foundation Dream House, 275 Church Street, 3rd Floor, New York. A d v i s o r s I n M e m o r i a m J o h n C a g e M e r c e C u n n i n g h a m Choi has presented series of environmental compositions with video, evolving light-point patterns, D o m i n i q u e d e M e n i l drawings, incense, performance and sound involving the concept of “Manifest, Unmanifest”. Her J o h n D u f f y synthesis of expression in this series collectively creates an intersubjective space as a unified R u b i n G o r e w i t z S t a n l e y G r i n s t e i n continuum and emphasizes the totality of sense perceptions as a single unit to create a state of G u s t a v e H a r r o w immersion. The New York Times wrote about Choi’s multimedia installation Ahata Anahata, H . W i l e y H i t c h c o c k J e r a l d O r d o v e r Manifest Unmanifest IX, ”If you give in to it while watching Ms. Choi’s hallucinatory screen, you may find yourself in an altered state of consciousness, on the verge of some ineffable, transcendental revelation.” (August 28, 2015)
As part of the exhibition, three live performances of Tonecycle for Blues Base 30 Hz, 2:3:7 Ensemble Version with 4:3 and 7:6 will be performed by The Sundara All-Star Band. The three legendary vocalists—La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, and Jung Hee Choi—and two virtuoso just intonation fretless guitar and bass – Jon Catler and Brad Catler- will improvise harmonically related frequency ratios over Choi’s new work, Tonecycle for Blues accompanied by widely acclaimed tabla master, Naren Budhkar. While traversing the common ground of improvisational phrases rooted in Indian raga, American blues techniques, Korean traditional folk ballads and musical Minimalism, this work creates a highly original sound that is based on just intervals.
Over the seventy-seven continuously revolving sine-wave frequencies, six channels of vocal overlays will be set in ratios based on the harmonics 2, 3, and 7. The relationship of the improvisations to the continuous drone elaborates the musical meaning of the pitch, creating a harmonious construct and inviting the listener into a deeply contemplative world.
Curators of the exhibition, Young and Zazeela wrote regarding Choi's Light Point Drawings, "With the application of her drawing techniques to a new, self-invented medium, that of inscribing with pinholes on black wrap, and with the utilization of video-projected colored light not on the drawing but, as it were, through the drawing, Jung Hee has created a profoundly engrossing body of work in these installations. Although these works can be described and even photographed, they must ultimately be experienced by the viewer in order to fully incorporate the element of time, which has now become an even more central and intrinsic aspect of these works. The varying colored light from pre-recorded videos projected through her needle point patterns continually delineates an ever-changing array, displaying facets of the curvilinear cosmos she has portrayed with endless imagination."
About Jung Hee Choi
Jung Hee Choi, artist/musician, works in video, performance, sound and multi-media installations. Choi’s work has been presented in the U.S., Europe and Asia, including FRAC Franche-Comté, France; Berliner Festspiele, Germany; Dia Art Foundation, Guggenheim Museum and MELA Foundation Dream Houses, NYC; FRESH Festival, Bangkok; Korea Experimental Arts Festival, Korea. Commissioned by MELA Foundation, her video sound performance and installation, RICE, was chosen as one of The 10 Best of 2003 in the December Artforum. Choi is a disciple of La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela in the classical Kirana vocal tradition and founded with them The Just Alap Raga Ensemble in 2002. She has performed as vocalist in every concert, including those at the MELA Dream House, the five-concert Pandit Pran Nath Memorial Tribute Tour in Berlin, Karlsruhe and Polling, Germany in 2012, the Yoko Ono Courage Award ceremony, the Guggenheim Third Mind Live concert series and the Merce Cunningham Memorial celebration in 2009.
In 2015, the Dia Art Foundation acquired a unique version of the La Monte Young Marian Zazeela Jung Hee Choi Dia 15 VI 13 545 West 22 Street Dream House, which opened to the general public from June 13 to October 24, 2015. In this installation, Young and Choi presented for the first time their sound environments in simultaneity.
Choi’s in-depth interview is featured in the online Asian Contemporary Art Week presentations organized by Asia Society, NY. Since 2008 Choi has been teaching Raga as instructor at the Kirana Center for Indian Classical Music. Choi appeared as guest artist and lecturer at the School of Visual Art, NYC and École supérieure d’art de Mulhouse, France. Choi's essay, SOUND: A Basis for Universal Structure in Ancient and Modern Cosmology, was published in a festschrift for Antonio T. de Nicolas: Poet of Eternal Return. Her work is in the collection of Frac Franche-Comté, France and Dia Art Foundation, NYC. Choi graduated BA summa cum laude, and received her MA in art and sound from NYU.
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Contact: Diarmid Flatley Email: [email protected] Phone: 212 219 3019 646 613 8328