JAMAIS VU

ambiguous works, books, exhibition, websites, 2024 indigo print 210x297mm | 120x189mm

This project is an experiment that questions and estranges everyday words we casually encounter in life through the lens of three performers, aiming to capture the sense of jamais vu felt in those moments.

Jamais vu, also known as “mishigam” in Korean, derives from the French phrase jamais vu, meaning “never seen.” It refers to the disorienting sensation of perceiving something familiar as unfamiliar. When one excessively focuses on commonly used words, their definitions, concepts, or structures can seem to dissolve, as if breaking into fragmented letters. This creates a sense of alienation, where the familiar becomes strangely foreign. Through this experiment, I intend to evoke such a feeling in the audience—by casting an illusion, so to speak. Using repetitive signals, I aim to desensitize the audience temporarily, leading them to experience unfamiliarity in the process of perception. I hope this prompts them to adopt a questioning gaze. Ultimately, critical awareness arises from one’s own consciousness, making the observer an active creator of new perspectives. Without critical thinking, individuals risk passively absorbing ideologies intentionally embedded in mass media. Thus, this is an experiment to question what we think we already know, to estrange it, and to capture the jamais vu in that experience.

| The first task, The Reader, begins as soon as you finish the introductory text. In this phase, a single word is repeated endlessly on the page, and “the reader” must continuously read it (aloud or internally), observing the subtle shifts of unfamiliarity that emerge within themselves. This process allows the performer to gauge their own threshold of perception. It starts with a single word, followed by pages filled with dozens of that word in chaotic arrangements. Finally, the letters of the word are jumbled, still readable but inducing a sense of strangeness. These designs are informed by the Gestalt effect, which manipulates perception so that the “meaning” of the word dissolves, leaving only its visual form as a combination of lines.

| In the second task, The Watcher, the audience views a video featuring the repeated enunciation of a word of their choice. The focus is on the movements of the speaker’s lips and uvula, creating a jamais vu effect through the physicality of the word’s form. During the viewing, the audience is encouraged to maintain an active, awakened posture in preparation for heightened perception.

| In the third task, The Listener, the audience repeatedly speaks their chosen word into a microphone, which records and plays back their voice in real time. Layer by layer, the sound builds upon itself, creating a dense auditory experience. Through this process of “speaking” and “hearing” the word repeatedly, the listener goes beyond simply understanding its meaning to deeply sensing the unique qualities of its sound and resonance.

The graphics presented in The Listener are decompositions of the words into their constituent letters, intentionally designed to fracture familiar words. As participants speak into the microphone, visual graphics are generated based on the decibel levels of their voice, with different interactions unfolding for each word. Simultaneously, the recorded word plays back in real time, layering itself into a round-like auditory sequence.