Q: If slam poetry and jazz had a baby on the internet, what would it be called?
A: Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries (yhchang.com)
Q: Why should I care?
A: You won't care until you see it. Go to yhchang.com. Watch "ARTIST'S STATEMENT N0. 45,730,944: THE PERFECT ARTISTIC WEB SITE". Come back here when you're done. Go. Like now.
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You're back? Doesn't your question seem silly now?
Q: What the fuck did I just see?
A: Just text and music, no more and no less. Surprising what can be done with a few simple elements, no? The internet doesn't need to be all flashy and colourful and complicated and interactive to be beautiful, or to make a statement.
Q: Why not make it flashy/interactive/etc.?
A: You could ask the same question of black and white vs. color photography, and the same sort of pretentious answers could be given. But in reality, the format comes from the challenge of keeping bandwith small so users with primitive internet connections, like the 56k modems most users had in the late '90s (or the similarly slow connection currently in place here at Bard College) wouldn't have to sit through interminable loading screens. The result has been a focus on the "art" part of "web-art", rather than an obsession with all the cool shit you can do with the internet.
Q: And this makes YHCHI special, how exactly?
A: Since the art is made for the internet, and more importantly for the sort of audience that exists on the internet, YHCHI's work is subtly, but radically different from off-line art. Consider: Although there are many references to life etc. in S.Korea, the work has international appeal, especially with translations into 14 different languages. The impact of technology, and more importantly the commercial aspect of technology, on not just the behavioural side of life, but on thought itself is a major topic. Although this has been a topic of focus in academic circles, internet users see this issue played out every day, from the moment they log on to the moment they close their browsers. Far from being an abstract and remote issue, how commercial technology -- or technological commercialism -- effects thought is an immediate and inescapable concern for internet users. Finally, since the internet has given all users an essentially level playing field for commentary, YHCHI is highly aware of reactions to their work, not from the institutional art world, but from ordinary people. This has enabled the art to hold a mirror up to itself. Take "METABLAST" as an example. It's text is a forum thread discussing their previous piece, "OPERATION NUKOREA".
Q: So the art creates a reaction, which in turn becomes more art?
A: Exactly.
Q: And YHCHI does this without becoming trite and infinitely self-referential?
A: Sure! Just because there are a lot of un-serious (read: stupid) people on the internet, doesn't mean people can't do serious things on the 'net.
But I'm sick of interviewing myself. I've got personalities showing up with press passes, asking if they can shoot video.
Now it's your turn. Watch some more. Post your ideas/thoughts/rants/etc. in the comments.
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