séance

Séance is derived from the ancient French word seoir, meaning “to sit,” and refers to a gathering of people who attempt to contact the dead or otherworldly beings. In response to the crisis of community that accompanied the emergence of Western modernism and rapid industrialization in the late 19th century, people turned to experiences and technologies of spiritual practices such as cinema, spiritualism, and psychoanalysis as forms of mediation and healing as they attempted to attain that which was absent in their lives. In particular, the European avant-garde’s surrealist movement contributed to the expansion of séance throughout society by stimulating the public imagination in the realm of art. SMB13 Séance: Technology of the Spirit (2025) proposed séance as a medium for connecting art and technology as well as material and immaterial realms in order to critically engage with current world events in the context of Korea and its rich diversity of belief systems, religious practices, and folk traditions.