Marketplace Performance
This final performance served as both a contemplation and celebration of Seoksu Market’s dual identity as a historical witness and a daily spectacle. As part of my residency in Anyang, South Korea, I sought to elevate the rhythms of the market—a place shaped by its people, its routines, and its unspoken stories.
Every few days, a truck selling local goods would pass through the market, announcing its wares over a loudspeaker. These trucks carved invisible paths, as if marking an impromptu stage for the life unfolding around them. Inspired by this recurring action, I used a small teaching amplifier to follow the truck’s route, delivering a message in English and providing a translation. The announcement, taken from a widely-read yet Western-centric book on performance art, declared:
The marketplace, fairground, the circus—gathering places for a large general public—have traditionally been the favored sites of performance.
As I moved through the market, this declaration reframed the bustling environment as a live, dynamic performance. Passersby, shopkeepers, residents, and customers became the cast, each pursuing their daily routines and creating an ever-changing tableau. This subtle intervention blurred the line between life and art, inviting the market’s community to see themselves as integral players in its story.
Throughout my interventions in Anyang, I explored the ways art can illuminate the human connections woven into everyday life. From sharing traditions with shopkeepers, to attempting to learn a language, to performing with handmade masks, each act underscored how culture, community, and identity converge. These performances were never solely about me—they were about the spaces I inhabited and the people who transformed them into moments of intimacy, tension, and reflection.
In Seoksu Market, I found a microcosm of resilience and adaptability, where tradition coexisted with change, and where each day brought a new performance. This final action encapsulated the essence of the entire series: that in the ordinary, there is art; in the routine, there is spectacle; and in the collective, there is a quiet, enduring power.