In Fire Drill Scenario, South Korean choreographer and artist Geumhyung Jeong investigates the excitement, and real-life risks that artists and audiences take when partaking in live performance experiences. Expect the unexpected in this wry, somehow ridiculous but useful performance that challenges the safety zones of art and life.
Creating works based on real life emergency situations has been an inspiration for Jeong.
“Simulation training for an emergency situation raised me a question about what a theatre is,” she says. “I made this work after creating the performance called CPR Practica, which deals with a different type of emergency simulation, such as cardiovascular disease, using a medical dummy. The first version of Fire Drill Scenario was designed for a typical proscenium theatre. Recently, I re-created the piece for a flexible space, such as a studio, which can be used in multiple ways, including performances and exhibitions. The main protagonists of this piece will be the venue itself and the audience.”
Jeong hopes the experience of the work sparks a desire to talk about various aspects of performance, choreography, and theatre.
Jeong says she enjoys the mixture of experiences when creating unique projects adding some go as expected, while others unfold unexpectedly. “Both bring me satisfaction in different ways. I believe it is essential to have both experiences together. While it is a challenge when things unfold unexpectedly, it also helps me discover more from them. And sometimes, I need to see things work as I wished!”
As a creative Jeong enjoys the narrative created through repetition and the fact that ideas usually come about accidentally.
Jeong is also a proponent of the almost symbiotic relationship between the performer and the audience saying that she appreciates the presence of audiences as part of performances.” Their attendance completes the performance. I am not referring to their interactions or reactions, but to their existence.”
Of Fire Drill Scenario, Jeong asks, “Shall we create this experience together?”
Since the beginning of her career, Jeong’s work has investigated the relationship between the human body and the objects that surround it, by way of productions that combine languages and techniques from the fields of contemporary dance, puppet theatre and the visual arts. Into the future, Jeong will continue to experiment with her unique brand of theatrical creations to once again discover the bits she has missed.
“As I mentioned, I enjoy the narrative created through repetition, and I hope to discover something again by chance through it. In the meantime, I will continue developing the work I’ve recently created, including this work and the one I made last year, called Under Construction.”
Theatres or any kind of exhibition spaces are loaded with different kinds of risks, as many people gather in a confined space. In Fire Drill Scenario, Jeong choreographs Arts House’s safety instructions with meticulous detail and dry wit.
March 6 – 9
