Jungju An sheds light on a range of issues that concern people in different places across the world, giving universal expression to such themes in his video works by employing a particular composition of images and sound.
He demonstrates a preference for the rhythms and sounds of everyday life and their onomatopoeic linguistic descriptions, which he combines to create individualistic symphonies: the wind in the trees, footsteps on asphalt, or the diffuse murmur of voices in a crowd. Working like a DJ, Jungju An creates digital assemblages from different linguistic elements that imitate sounds and so creates veritable sound scores, which he uses later to accompany his own recorded video sequences of everyday situations.
For his latest project, Jungju An filmed in six famous historical settings in Spain, France, Belgium, Italy, Austria and Germany and asked native speakers of these countries to lend him their voices for his microphone and subsequently used these ingredients to mix the soundtrack for his video films. In all six cities, Jungju An filmed places with historical gates – meeting points for tourists, and as such also places providing symbolic access to the culture typical of the specific locality or country. In Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Jungju An will first present his onomatopoetic video sequence of the Brandenburg Gate.