When festivals, plays, factory lights, ferns, and something in between them are connected – Mixrice

Mixrice

Mixrice’s work mainly starts with conversations and is put into practice by establishing relationships. In particular, in addition to the team of “Cheolmo Yang-Jieun Cho,” Mixrice’s work is carried out by collaborating with various groups of people, such as naturalized migrants and Indonesian artists. Through the art practice of Mixrice, centered on the keywords of migration and travel, we can explore what an artist can and should do to connect others with the world.

In this lecture, Mixrice introduced “Maseok Dongne festival (MDf) “ held at Maseok Furniture Complex, “Illegal Life” at Maseok migrant theater, and a folk play of 1978, “Light of Factory” by Minki Kim, “The Light of the Factory in the 21st Century,” and the practice of “snapping ferns” shown in Jatiwangi.

Mixrice’s work at MDf was to bring people together and let them meet with each other. In addition, “Illegal Life” produced by Maseok migrant theater allows us to examine how the scenes of Maseok that were “outside” of our lives are expressed through the play. When the Maseok migrant theater was unable to continue performing due to the crackdown, Mixrice recalled Minki Kim’s1978 folk play “Light of Factory” and created “The Light of the Factory in the 21st Century.” Meanwhile, the “snapping ferns” that was conceived in the work on migration was realized in a village in northeast Java called Jatiwangi. As such, Mixrice believes that the dance of “Light of Factory” is aligned with the “snapping ferns” from the old times. Also, Mixrice thinks that the awkward phrases and gestures of Maseok’s “Illegal Life” are connected to the point where the song and instrumental accompaniment are mismatched in “Light of Factory.” In order for our thoughts to be enriched, we need to discover our stories, connect them, add to them, and exchange them. Stories can be created, evolved, and moved on to other stories as we uncover these little connections.