Tea Room Rules
For this intervention, I asked musician Hyeshim Jeong to guide me through the basics of a traditional tea ceremony, asking her to step outside her role as a classically trained musician and embrace the unfamiliar position of a non-professional tea ceremony instructor. The tea ceremony, with its precise steps and focused movements, proved challenging to master. The absence of a shared language created a palpable tension, amplifying the pressure to perform each movement perfectly. In the face of this, I relied on improvisation during the first round, knowing that I could not replicate the refined mastery required, and ultimately chose not to attempt it again.
Instead of continuing the ceremony, we shifted our conversation to our lives in transition. We discussed the shifting roles we inhabited and the discomfort of performing in unfamiliar roles. As she eloquently put it, "That is when we pause, drop down into ourselves and are." This moment of reflection deepened our understanding of the complexities of navigating multiple identities in a constantly changing environment.
The market itself felt like a reflection of this fluidity. The shops and their owners were like chameleons, constantly adapting to survive. Much like many artists who juggle multiple roles—teacher, assistant, administrator—these market stalls shifted between storefronts and community salons, morphing into whatever the community needed. The boundaries between commerce, culture, and personal identity blurred. In this intervention, I explored the market’s dynamic role, not just as a provider of food, but as a self-contained microcosm—a living, breathing entity that could alter its form to meet the demands of survival in an ever-changing world.