Old Land
artspace HYEONG, Seoul, S.Korea
04 Aug - 21 Aug 2022
Supported by artspace HYEONG / SFAC
APPENDIX: Excerpts from the translation of the original Letter from the Unknown
Old Land hasn’t melted since the last ice age, making it the oldest Arctic sea ice.*
Pick up a piece of ice rolling around on the ground and swallow it.
Solidly condensed to the weight of time, Old Land’s ice is never salty, and its flavour is rich in minerals.1
Old Land is always on the move through the sea. In order to get there, you will have to encounter a dense white fog that can white out your vision in the summer when there’s no night. You will see a low, golden band between the horizon and the clouds when this fog dissipates. At that point, you can get off the ship, walk nonstop for 72 hours toward the Golden Band, and then you will reach Old Land..2
There are puddles everywhere in Old Land.
Minerals from the sea and rain from the sky fill each of the puddles with water as clear and pristine as the springs of earthly paradise. One puddle has a mysterious power. Surrounded by blue ice, its water is always fresh, even after days of drinking. As you chip away at the thin ice and take a sip, a pleasant violet scent envelops you, and the flavour changes every minute, from day to night every time you drink it..3
If you sip the mysterious water, you will feel energised. As you drink more, your eyes brighten and you can see the world more clearly as your fever begins to subside in your body. Your skin begins to soften and revitalise. As you drink this water, you want more water while drinking. If you fast for three days and drink this water, you will not get sick from that day forward, and you will be able to remain 32 years old throughout your life until you die.4
Beneath Old Land lies a very calm sea with large inhabitants who live long lives. Whales caught here have artefacts from thousands of years ago in their bodies. Only those artefacts can manage to tell us how old the whales are. The sea creatures beneath Old Land that can’t swim all crane their necks and try to get closer to the sea ice with their slender limbs.5
1 .Anonymous. A Letter from the Unknown (ca. 1165-1170), 3rd paragraph.
2.Ibid., 16th paragraph.
3.Ibid., 27th paragraph.
4.Ibid., 28th paragraph.
5.Ibid., 28th paragraph.
*Sea ice: the ice that is created from frozen seawater.