Butterflying

A collaboration with Bin Youn. February 2023

Bin Youn & Josh Zubkoff

six channels video installation with projectors and inflatable couches.

butterflies: laser cut acrylic, dichroic film, 3D printed components, and electronics.

The title, Butterflying, connotes the ongoing transition from a single static noun into multiple moving verbs by using “ing.” The process of bridging the different entropies takes enlightened time and space. Floating in this capsulized luminous space and time, Butterflying (2023), visitors experience a reification, self-effacement time to be immersed with forms and colors with lights.

Butterflying (2023) is a collaborative installation using sculptural forms and video projections. 33  laser cut butterflies sculptures and 6 projectors envision a dreamlike “butterflying” experience for visitors. Three green inflatable couches create a space that invites viewers to be still, to sit and engage with moving within timespace. The vibrantly lighted butterflies are suspended from above the gallery walls and the seating is set back, allowing the white wall space to be fully available for the video sequences. The lines on which butterflies are installed simulate the tracking path of the electricity movement, the source of light. All videos were recorded on islands in South Korea in winter. Going back and forth to the island, we must cross between lands. This mimics the movement of the “noun-verb” transition process. The place of islands makes the pace of walking slow down, dream, and butterfly. Winter, the cold season is the migrating time for most butterflies. Some species do not spend the winter as adults due to their short lifespan. Moreover, Scientists also found that butterflies raised in captivity do not migrate. Searching for hugging lights, colorful waves of leaves, and cozy smells of breeze is only allowed for the willing. 

Special thanks to Sri Guttikonda & Cameron Nagai