Ceremony by Astronun D
Based on the artist's previous experiences as a DJ and a listening session host 'meditative sounds', Astronun D was primarily inspired by Hildegard von Bingen who was a mystic, polymath, herbalist, composer from the 12th century in Germany. Re-interpreting sacred poems and spiritual verses around the world in history, her music is sonically and cosmically traveling though diverse genres such as poetry reading & lyrical singing, vocaloid-like rhythmic choir, dramatic Apreggio layers, dub beats, hyper-pop and dance music.
Through her sacred yet playful botanical ritual, the performance of Astronun D also involves holistic experiences that are revealing dramaturgically on a multi-sensory level as a ceremonial ritual with tea, incense, words and sounds. With the discourses around botanical colonialism, she wishes to declutter romantic old-fashioned notions and fantasies on royal botanic gardens and to suggest the world how to genuinely treat plants with compassion in order to re-wire a symbiotic bonding with plants and to equalize the balance between human, the plant life as well as the extraterrestrial life that are invisible to the naked eye.
Astronun D의 음악은 작가의 DJ 경험 및 명상곡 음악 감상회를 바탕으로 만들어진 새로운 음악 프로젝트이다. 12세기 중세시대 독일의 박식가이자, 허벌리스트, 신비주의자, 작곡가였던 힐데가르트 본 빙엔 수녀에 영감을 받아 만들어진 그녀의 음악은 전세계적으로 전해지는 영적인 구절과 성스러운 시(時)를 매개체로 하여 언어적인 요소를 가진다. 비언어적인 요소로는 보컬로이드가 부르는 성가적인 사운드, 드라마틱한 아르페지오 텍스쳐 그리고 덥 비트와, 하이퍼팝, 댄스뮤직 사운드가 돋보인다.
차, 향, 사운드, 언어가 겸비된 Astronun D의 퍼포먼스는 성스러운 보태니컬 리추얼을 통하여 다감각적인 요소를 자극하고 극작기법을 활용하여 전체주의적인 경험을 세레머니로 풀어낸다. 작가는 역사적으로 축적된 오래된 기존의 식물에 대한 사고를 허물고, 마냥 로맨틱하게 여겨져 왔던 식물계 식민주의 표본이자 제국주의의 잔재인 로얄 보태닉 가든에 대한 인식을 환기시켜 육안으로 보이지 않는 인간과 식물이 함께 살아가는 방식에 대한 새로운 숨결을 불어넣고자 한다.
Botanical Mandala Ritual: Towards The Way of Oneness (2023)
by Dambi Kim
As part of the multi-sensory ritual series from ‘In the Spirit of Plants (2021)’, Botanical Mandala Ritual is a site-specific herbal offering to bring the audience together in one place by using hand-picked plants from the local environment. This botanical ritual is a reflection of the artistic research during the last two years of the Master studies, ranging from herbalism, ancient wisdom, sound design, somatic movements, sensory-analysis and comparative religious studies to make a sacred ceremony with a contemporary touch.
In the Spirit of Plants: Four Season Ceremony (2021)
by Dambi Kim
Plants, human and all the living beings in the universe are born with good nature or spirituality which transcends merely a religious point of view. All the plant healers on this planet have always had a profound understanding about the plants and played a role as a spiritual guide within the tribe to connect the earthly and the heavenly by worshiping holy spirits of herbs in a ritual. Mirroring seasonal changes in the nature, the plant healer goes on a foraging journey to gather sacred herbs in the wilderness. She then makes a slow ceremonial dance, kindling the herbal incense bundle made of the collected herbs to thank the goddess of the Earth, Gaia who governs the planet we are living on.