“Does our sorrow simply end as sorrow?”
SAD BOOK began as a collection of five short stories―gathered and adapted from incidents that occurred in the near yet distant peripheries of our lives―conceived in the format of Lesedrama, or plays written to be read rather than performed.
Over time, these five “stories of wounds” evolved into a fictional exhibition narrative during the Nanji Residency period, shaped through the curatorial framework and formal experimentation of independent curator and researcher Zoe Chun. This process unfolded through the shared experiences, reflections, and exchanges with participating artists―Arata Mino, Junghye Park, Jongkwan Paik, Kwanghee Ahn, Sungkyung Lee, Minkyu Hwang, and Ellie Kyung Ran Heo―each of whom contributed to the exhibition’s deepening through their distinct practices.
Installed across Exhibition Halls 1 and 2 at the Nanji Art Studio, SAD BOOK transforms the site's original circular septic tank structure into a theatrical spatial device, where invisible layers of pain and remembrance begin to surface.
The work draws from real, tragic accounts of unnamed and unrecorded individuals―socially vulnerable figures whose stories rarely reach visibility. Through an experiential and multidisciplinary approach encompassing performance, video, installation, and writing, these narratives unfold as an exhibition-drama charting a movement toward recovery.
While conventional histories may frame such events solely as tragedies, SAD BOOK introduces the fictional presence of a spirit being―an imagined, non-human observer of human loneliness and isolation. This intervention opens a speculative space: Can sorrow, when seen through non-human eyes, also lead to hope?
At the heart of the exhibition is a narrative based on the journey of SA, a soul sent to the human world under divine instruction to sustain itself by consuming human sorrow. As SA watches over people and attends to their grief, it slowly begins to comprehend what emotion is―what it means to feel, suffer, and endure.
Lacking human language, SA learns to express itself through natural phenomena. Weather, seasons, and the shifting qualities of linear and cosmic time become its vocabulary. Though born of sorrow and tasked with feeding on it, SA’s presence gradually transforms into something meaningful as it alleviates the pain of those it encounters.
Notably, the “divine” here is neither religious nor dogmatic; it is a symbolic concept, and we hope it will not be interpreted through superficial or institutionalized religious frameworks.
Ultimately, SAD BOOK suggests that sorrow need not always conclude in sorrow. The exhibition foregrounds those who dwell in the deep shadows of grief, often left unspoken or illogical within social structures, and offers an invitation to encounter them outside the conventional grammar of tragedy.
By calling attention to the purpose of sorrow, SAD BOOK proposes that a different kind of language, and perhaps a different sort of future, might emerge from within sorrow's depths.
Sad Book: A Reading in Three Voices (Exhibition-related Performance) [Register for the Performance]
*Date: May 23rd, 3:00 PM & 6:00 PM
*Venue: Exhibition Hall, SeMA Nanji Residency
*About the Performance
The performative reading of Sad Book begins as a Lesedrama―a drama intended not for the stage but for the act of reading itself.
Conceived as a literary and spatial reflection, the reading invites audiences to empathize with the grief of unseen others and seek connection through the written word. It resists the objectification or aestheticization of sorrow, instead tracing the existential weight of pain, the remnants of trauma, and a path toward emotional resolution through compassion and recognition.
Performed by three actors, the piece unfolds through spoken text, intuitive movement, spatial transitions, and subtle responses to sound. Sad Book does not present a closed narrative, but a living story―one still unfolding. It gestures toward a collective experience of grief, offering the audience a space for internal imagining, solidarity, and the quiet, ongoing work of healing.
* Performer Introduction
- Byungseol Moon
Moon is a stage actor known for his intense and experimental performances. His theater credits include Neverland, The Needle of God, A Day in May, Anti-Oedipus, Designation, NON-Rem, and Bad Pi-Pi. His film work includes the short films Advocate and Fishing.
- Chulho Song
Song is a theater actor whose recent performances include When Neil Armstrong Went to the Moon, Simulation, Coastal Zone, The Dumb Waiter, and Woyzeck, among many others. A deep engagement with contemporary social and philosophical themes marks his work.
- Gyuchan Hwang
Hwang’s recent theater credits include Brilliance of Green, I’ll Come to See You Though It Rains, Spathiphyllum in Space, Zero Shield Zero, and The Shape of Love. In television, he has appeared in Chief Detective 1958, Love in the Big City, Crash Course in Romance, and The Good Bad Mother. His film appearances include Opposition Party and You Are the Apple of My Eye.
