Donghoon Gang

Donghoon Gang is an artist, composer, and researcher.

Rousseau’s Dream is a work in which traces predating their fixation within the system of musical or staff notation are transcribed onto a laminated surface composed of cardboard, Washi, and Hanji. It traces how a single musical motif, originating from Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s opera Le devin du village, was transformed over approximately two centuries into hymns and folk songs, before, through Isawa Shūji, being incorporated into the Shōgaku Shōkashū, then passing through military songs, and ultimately settling in East Asia in the form of children’s songs.

Washi, representing Japan, and Hanji, representing Korea, are laminated onto the cardboard in distinct ways that correspond to the historical processes through which the piece was received, forming a material stratification. Through this, the work reveals how the same melody undergoes shifts in lyrics and function according to changing historical conditions and ideological structures.

Photo Documetation. MANIWA Yuki

Courtesy of Tokyo Arts and Space