October 30, 2006

Dear -----,

             The crisis in North Korea is a man-made disaster: its people live under massive repression and deprivation of basic human needs.  The attention placed on the nuclear weapons program of North Korea overpowers the immensity of human suffering, even to the point of concealment.

             The reality of this present situation is urgent and demands understanding. Many humanitarian aid workers, professionals, intellectuals, and students from diverse fields and expertise are advancing to form a greater force surrounding this issue.  As academics, we too have a task to participate in this discourse.  On the weekend of November 10-12th, “NK FOCUS,” a discussion series will bring together students, professors and outside activists to Cornell to address the religious, political and human rights situation in North Korea today.

              Art has a unique role in politics and society: it is able to deal with political issues in a way that is personally impacting and diverse from any other form.  As artists, we believe in art’s potential to penetrate walls of indifference and change prescribed images and ideas. In response to the circumstances of North Korea and in anticipation of the NK conference, we propose a large-scale, visible installation on the arts quad to actively engage the Cornell community.

Our vision is for two undulating walls of red cloth, outlining and symbolizing the psychological, ideological, and physical space of the most heavily armed boundary in the world: the de-militarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea, the 38th parallel.  We will construct two parallel walls that span the width of the arts quad to form an in-between space. When one passes through these walls, the border transforms into a passageway, and the viewer is invited to come inside. There, text written on the inside of either wall begins a dialogue with the public, encouraging them to look, to linger, and to contemplate. Just to look and participate is already an act of intervention—a conscious movement from our personal space of comfort to a larger discourse—because the first step to change always starts with understanding. The installation will be visible day and night; by night the boundary is illuminated with thousands of small lights. 

             The project is aware of its limitations. The scope of the humanitarian crisis in North Korea is overwhelming. In the end, is there anything left to do, but slowly walk past, and then back to the lives we know?  But we want to challenge and complicate this discourse, and negotiate the fact of our lives in a world where countless hidden people still live in bondage under sub-human conditions. There is no simple solution to this problem, but that does not mean we can ignore it.

Sincerely,