UNTITLED: MIST

KIM TAEGON

In this work, the artist Taegon Kim explores the difficulty he has in communicating with people he does not know well. This self-described ‘affliction’ has led him to create objects that allow alternative means of communication and connection. Untitled (Mist), is a device for two people to share their breath. It plays on the connection all people share through the air we breathe. The apparatus is designed to reveal too the water vapour or ‘mist’ carried on the breath. Kim’s desire is to view the exchange that happens between two people, in this shared vessel for their breath, within which water vapour condenses. Breath is laden with water; the loss of water from the body through breathing can be close to a litre a day. In this device, water and air form the connective, elemental bridge between two individuals. Can this intimate exchange bring people closer together? In a world in which water becomes more scarce will our water-laden breath become a unique personal commodity?