Sway

Jane Jin Kaisen’s work considers wider political histories through the experience of displaced individuals and com- munities. Marine environments function in her videos and performances as sites of—and metaphors for—the inter- mingling of cultures and the encounter of worlds. These coastlines and crossing points carry histories of conflict, migration, and spiritual practice. Dokkaebi are shapeshifting nature spirits often invoked in shamanic rituals on Jeju Island. Seven of these shapeshifting, elemental dancers feature in the performance Sway. What have they come to tell us? Have they come to our aid or to play tricks on us? Or perhaps they are here to remind us to attend to other ways of sensing, knowing, and relating to each other… They dissipate into the rain as swiftly as they emerged from it.

＊ The new commissioned performance Sway by Jane Jin Kaisen is inspired by her video work Dokkkaebi in 2024, also exhibited as part of Seoul Mediacity Biennale.