Time, Body, and Silence
Sangghil Oh
Time-based artist | Body | Resistance | Trace | Silence
“What cannot be said—must be drawn, screamed, or scattered.”
A body of control and compulsion
TIME, BODY, and SILENCE are not just themes—
they are conversations with the wall,
cracks in a mirror,
a scream outside the diary,
or a body kneeling in the dark.
Something still exists,
but its voice resists translation.
My language fails to decipher it—
and so instead, it smashes through,
then clumsily marvels at the ruin it created,
not knowing what was lost.
Random fuck, 2004
video flash & MX, sound
One might flinch at the sudden sounds.
Non-linear playback through irrational number algorithm
A meaningless “fuck” repeated,
becoming an experiment in disordered language under control.
Random walking, 2004
video flash & MX, no sound
A walking figure—shifting along the wall,
breaking spatial continuity through illusions,
collapsing the experience of time and space
like a glitch or teleportation.
An artist Descending a Staircase, 2004
video flash & MX, no sound
A parody of M. Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase—
Disassembling gesture,
fragmenting temporality,
undoing the artist’s own presence.
Dung dung dung-du-kung, 2001
single channel video installation, sound
Rhythm, guttural noise, trembling facial muscles—
ruptures between sensory control and release.
Dori dori, 1999
single channel video installation, sound
Lateral vibration, infantile echoes—
a strange calibration, stretched and inverted,
between adult discipline and bodily impulse.
Lick, lick, lick your ass!, 1999
single channel video installation, no sound
In these works, I attempted a language that could not be controlled.
Or rather, I mimicked control
only to break language into fragments.
The irrational number algorithm shattered repetition.
The frame collapsed mid-assembly.
Within less than a second,
I witnessed a meaningless word overwhelm all meaning.
The body laughed, retched, moved, then froze.
Time staggered, missing its step.
It seemed motionless—yet it pressed forward.
And in those voiceless images
were my most honest words.