Book Description

The project-in-lieu of thesis, Unfulfilled Desires investigates how a tongue can "speak itself" to express unconscious, repressed, or unfulfilled desires by simple but repetitive actions. Desire is formless like solid colors, but is actualized by projecting fantasy onto a subject. Desire is like a strange and endless loop between reality and fantasy, never fully satisfied in either case. Unfulfilled Desires is a video installation composed of two synchronized High Definition videos, Unfulfilled Desire I_idiosyncrasy and Unfulfilled Desire II_blindness, which capture hyper-details of a tongue performing tasks such as melting a lollipop and licking honey. By contrasting two different means of fulfilling desire, I show that desire is not fulfilled upon completion of the task in Unfulfilled Desire I_idiosyncrasy, nor is desire satiated through infinite supply in Unfulfilled Desire II_blindness. In Unfulfilled Desire I_ idiosyncrasy, a tongue licks a lollipop until it is completely dissolved. This performance focuses on the simple, mechanical actions of the tongue, which licks the lollipop while never truly consuming it. The color blue is the most familiar hue for sky or sea, but it is the most unfamiliar color for human skin or food. The saturated blue of the tongue, face, and lollipop provides a saccharin pleasure and implies fantasy. Unfulfilled Desire I_ idiosyncrasy exposes the physical process of the transformation of the lollipop into a warm and sticky syrup mixed with saliva. The work contrasts the sweet pleasure of desire with the fatigue induced by the tongues action. In Unfulfilled Desire II_blindness, honey dripping from a sword becomes a trigger to attract the tongue like a flower attracts bees. The color red communicates desire as an intense and reckless force, knowing danger yet tempting fate. The contrast between the strong and sharp steel of a sword and the soft and vulnerable muscle of the tongue increases the tension between blind desire and dangerous pleasure. A tongue doesn't have eyes. A tongue doesn't think. A tongue doesn't feel guilty. A tongue becomes the living embodiment of desire as a receptor of pleasure. I investigate human desire by questioning what is known and unknown, available and unavailable, and simultaneously concealing/revealing meanings by observing human body actions.