(Interactive VR Experience)

This interactive VR piece reconstructs the experiences and dreams of a Korean artist (Sungeun Lee) suffering from narcolepsy. He didn’t know that he had narcolepsy until he returned from military service (2 years of military service is mandatory in South Korea for almost every man, but narcolepsy patients are excluded). He had to deal with violence and oppression from groups that required specific norms and order, such as high school and the army. His memories of violence were internalized in his unconsciousness and projected into his dreams and art.

Director Biography – Sojung Bahng, Sungeun Lee
Noon is a South Korean media art team composed of Sojung Bahng and Sungeun Lee. Sojung Bahng is an artist, new media filmmaker and researcher based in Melbourne and Seoul. She is a PhD candidate at Monash University’s SensiLab in Australia and a director for Artengine, a multidisciplinary art and research group in South Korea. Sojung’s works have been shown in many countries. Her interactive VR project Anonymous was selected for BIAF 2019 in Bucheon, TSFM 2019 in Torino and TIAF2019 in Tbilisi. Sojung’s 360° essay film Floating Walk was nominated for Social Impact Media Awards 2018 in Los Angeles, and her dance film Poetry of Separation was screened at NDC in New York. Her collaborative live cinema performance Contemporary Witchcraft was shown at VCA gallery in Melbourne, ICLC in Madrid and ICMC in New York. Sojung’s experimentations into architectural cinema and database film were presented at various international symposiums and conferences, such as ISEA 2014/2016/2019, ArtsIT2014, ICIDS2019, and more.

Sungeun Lee is a new media artist with a background in technology. He graduated from Yonsei University with a degree in mechanical engineering and was trained as an MIT FABLAB instructor. His artistic investigation is mainly regarding virtual reality and self-perception, which resonates with his personal musings as a narcoleptic patient. His work was featured in solo exhibitions at the Incheon Art Platform in 2019 and the Seoul Art Space Geumcheon in 2018. He attended various group exhibitions, such as those held in the Gallery Planet Seoul in 2019, the Youkillbong Seoul in 2019, the SASG in 2018, and more. He received grants from the Davinci Creative program in 2015 and 2017 in Seoul. He was selected for the two-year artist’s residency program of Rijksakademie in the Netherlands for 2020-2021.