Over the weekend I went with a friend to the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Gwacheon to see the Bill Viola video installation, "Ocean Without a Shore." I found it to be a mesmerizing and ultimately, humbling experience. The piece addressed with conceptual and visual simplicity the tenuous thresholds between life and death. In this clip prepared by the Tate (which gives a sense of what the installation looks like), Viola eloquently describes his vision for the work as well as some of the more technical details of putting together the installation.
Yesterday, I was confronted with the harsher realities of Viola's astute meditation on the "fragility of life." Early in the morning I heard the devastating news of the sudden death of a beloved member of our Korean drumming group in Boston. I spent most of the day making international phone calls and in a state of shock, followed by grief. Words seem inadequate and inappropriate now, especially in the form of a blog. But, if there's anything I can convey at this point, it is of the renewed cognizance of the temporality of life.
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