Lookback: Diana Band

WORM was thrilled to present Dianaband (Wonjung Shin신원정, Dooho Yi이두호 ) as part of our season opener weekend in September. Following a week-long residency in the WORM Sound Studio, and a two-month stint developing new work in Rotterdam, Dianaband opened the doors of Slash Gallery for a lightening-fast foray in slow listening.

Wonjung and Dooho said: “This work was an experiment by all beings in the nature of every imaginable relationship. Artists, curators, space, echo, walls, floors, air, gravity, time, audiences, consciousness and breath, objects, structures, radio waves, calculators, computers, insects, moisture, mold, and dust were invited to be the hosts of the experiment. We have studied and practiced together to see if it is possible to ‘speak nearby’ each other, instead of ‘speak about’.”

The exhibition, in which sonic events occurred within a network of objects exchanging Wi-Fi signals, invited the viewer to enter a forest-like environment that is non-verbal, non-causal, and intimate, yet one that remained in a state of chaos.

Dianaband is an interdisciplinary artist duo based in Seoul. They work on weaving everyday objects, landscapes, sections of contemporary society into sound, turning them into portable instruments or creating spaces where objects with sound and movement resonate. In their works, sound is a relational event-a structural device-or a situational clue-energetic events.

In November 2022, Dianaband jammed with and performed alongside a delegation from WORM at ATM Festival in Seoul, South Korea. For this exhibition, Wonjung and Dooho work again in collaboration with Anne Kolbe, Mariette Groot and Ash Kilmartin.

Dianaband has been exhibited their works internationally in Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and South Korea. Their projects have been commissioned by Seoul Museum of Art (2022), National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (2020), Asia Culture Center (2018), Nam June Paik Art Center (2017), Arco Performing Arts Center (2015), Zuiderzee Museum (2012), MEM Experimental Arts International Festival (2011) and more. In addition, they have conducted exhibitions, performances, workshops, and lectures that attempt to engage or form relationships with audiences directly or indirectly using sound installations and digital media.

They have participated in Hackers & Designers’ Summer Academy several times and are the founders of Dot-Dot-Dot User Group (DDDUG), which co-organized last year’s Hackers & Designers Summer Academy, ‘Connecting Otherwise’.