Re: [-empyre-] international dimension and music

[YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES <tfa@chollian.net>]

Hi Jim,

Wow, you've got a helluva lot of work on your site.

Do we see the several languages on our site as important? Frankly, we don't
see any aspect of what we do as important. Not to be ironic or cynical, but
we do what we do because it's unimportant. For us, that's art. If art were
important, we wouldn't be doing it. Put another way, if we wanted to do
something important, we wouldn't be making art. It's kind of a Zen thing.

Just to put things in context.

We see the various languages on our site as what we have to do to exploit to
the max the Web. Since we don't (know how to) use images -- international
language -- for us to be worldwide, we need to speak several languages.

It's also a literary weakness. All writers like to be published in several
languages.  

Do we just use American music? Yes. Although we couldn't tell you why.

O.K., here's a piece we did with Candy Factory that has Korean music:

http://www.trans.artnet.or.jp/~transart/Halbeath/index.html

And here's a piece we did for a past International AIDS day that features
some Okinawa music and is also on http://www.poemsthatgo.com/:

http://www.yhchang.com/BETTY_NKOMO.html

On music selection. We like jazz, but we're trying to grow. We make our own
music now, so we're mixing it up a bit. Actually, what we're learning is
that anything that has the slightest beat or pulse will do. It could be just
some Korean Buddhist monk tapping away the day on a gourd. Or some guy or
gal playing the spoons. You'll see.

Our "collaboration." We're the concept people. During business lunches we
sketch out concepts on napkins (that we later sell), then pass them to our
team of Flash masters, who do the grunt work. We wholeheartedly embrace the
Duchampian dictate of not getting one's hands dirty.

That's another thing about art: it has to be easy, or it isn't worth doing.
If it's hard, you might as well be doing anything, especially because
anything else is surely better paid.

Young-hae and Marc


On 5/4/05 3:08 PM, "Jim Andrews" <jim@vispo.com> wrote:

> Yes, that "Cunnilingus in North Korea" piece is terrific!
> 
> Your work is widely known in the English-speaking world. And I see on your
> home page at http://www.yhchang.com translation into many languages. The
> international dimensions of your work are wonderful. Do you see that as an
> important part of what you are doing?
> 
> Is it always USAmerican music you use? How do you select the music?
> 
> Also, how does the collaboration work? Does one person do the writing and
> another the Flash work?
> 
> ja
> http://vispo.com
> 
> 
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