Text, Liberated
We referred to the work of Richard Lanham and YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES in two separate posts. This time they come together as different parts of the same argument.
Lanham, in a chapter of his book The Economics of Attention titled What’s Next for Text?, argues that electronic media is slowly unleashing the full potential of the written word. Text as we know it in a static, lineal fashion has great (well-known) advantages. However, this traditional form shouldn’t be taken as the final destination of text. Electronic media is playing a role in advancing this medium in another direction, not necessarily in the spirit of replacement but in the spirit of innovation.
The Seoul-based group YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES is notorious for their experimentations with text in the digital arena. Their simplicity is outstanding when we internalize the profound effect in our feelings that their work is able to produce. They are indirectly answering Lanham assertion that “we want words to move for the same reason we want everything else to move, because movement means life and the space and time in which life exists.”
From the communications point of view, this media form is almost hypnotic; it is really hard to take your senses away from any of their pieces once they begin. Lanham, again, has an interesting explanation: “Our eyes are programmed to detect motion. We like it. When we see text move, we are drawn into the movement. And when the movement takes us to a land where meaning has a visual embodiment, we pay attention to it.”
Moving text is then a powerful media form in both the poetic sense as well as in the context of the attention economy. Its simplicity is the result of our strong relationship with text, developed over many centuries, and our genetic fascination with movement. YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES are certainly not the first ones to experiment with text but their work is original and more relevant than ever in a world that is just starting to grasp the concept of human attention as currency.
Below is a selection of some of their work in the political, storytelling, and even romantic realm. Enjoy.
CUNNILINGUS IN NORTH KOREA [English version]
JONGNO [English version]
