The Lab of an Artist who Connects Values

“I want to work for the sake of children rather than focusing on making my own great work”

- Man-Young Jung

Kangkangee Arts Village is a village named after the sound of hammering boats all day long. In that village, we can spot artist Man-Young Jung's studio, a space full of strange experiments and a place where anything can be made in a snap. His artistic experiments that connect sight, sound and data allow us to read our lives and culture within.


Through this interview, we heard the story of Man-Young Jung, whose experiments lead to education and connect various people.


Man-Young Jung

Photo/ ⓒKACES

Q. Please introduce yourself.

I am Man-Young Jung, an artist who connects various activities through sound. I mainly conduct culture and arts education and regional studies that use sound as a medium through sound workshops, sound collection, installation and so on.

Kangkangee Arts Village located in Yeongdo, Busan

Stillcut/ ⓒKACES

Q. Your studio is very attractive. Please introduce your studio.


My studio is a place full of noises as it is located in the Kangkangee Village in Yeongdo, Busan. There is a shipyard near the studio, so you can hear the hammering sound all day long. I even collect that sound and upload it on the internet. Not only do I have the facilities to collect such sounds, but I also have IoT(Internet of Things) and many sensors that help collect such data. I also have a lot of various tools here in my studio so you can experiment with anything you want.


Q. Where do you get your inspiration from?


I majored in sculpture in college. Therefore, it is very natural for me to deal with a variety of materials and tools to experiment. I especially enjoy experimenting with sounds, and ideas from such processes sometimes lead to educational workshops. So I search for various things and imagine what I can do with them.

Tools in Man-Young Jung's studio

Stillcut/ ⓒKACES  

Q. You have expanded your field of activity from a visual artist to an interdisciplinary artist. What have you been working on lately?


On the roof, I have installed a device that converts weather information into data, and I am also collecting data of waves hitting the beach. The reason I collect such data is to express our 'environment' into numbers. This means that the numbers can be entered as input in coding, which also means that there are countless variations available.


Like this, I explore with the data I collect, and constantly question myself , How can I utilize the weather information to create arts works with children?


Q. Why should we interact?


When we meet new people, new values are generated. That's why I value connection and the role of connectors. I also work with an engineering expert in this studio, and I feel joy as I learn new things from him and by creating new values as we talk to each other. I believe our society develops as people in different fields meet and influence each other.

*Kumdarak Saturday Cultural School Family Sound Travel Sketch Site

Photo/ ⓒKACES

Q. What will you be like 10 years from now?


I guess I’ll be older and have more gray hair. I once saw a video of an artist named Alexander Calder who makes mobiles. In his late years, he made small-sized theaters for children. When I saw that scene, I felt that I myself might be doing similar activities for the sake of children rather than making time for my own work when I grow old.

Man-Young Jung

Man-young Jung works actively in combining various activities through sound, such as sound collection, sound workshop, sound installation arts, and education. Recently, he is working on a local research project that studies the commonalities of places and sounds.

His Soundscape CD series has 5 volumes: Myanmar, Silsangsa Temple, Busan original downtown, Busan Jungang-dong Printing Alley, and Busan Choryang Sanbok Road, and Silsangsa Temple Soundscape-Soribi has been officially released.


Email: nanman02@hanmail.net

Website: http://www.manyoung.woobi.co.kr


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