Wormhole Project

Please check this out. Caroline Chang is my lovely cousin and a mighty fine writer. I'll definitely be there on October 3. You should come, too!!!

http://wormholing.wordpress.com/

WORMHOLE is a writing/audio/thought experiment by Caroline Chang and Kyoung Kim running throughout September 2009 at wormholing.net. The project will culminate in the opening of an Official Wormhole on October 3rd, 2009 between Los Angeles and Seoul, Korea at Soundwalk LA.

WORMHOLE involves quite a bit of experimenting in mad-cap-inventor fashion, and we hope you will join us, trying and sharing your own wormhole tests and thoughts on our blog and/or in your own clever way.

Cheers,
Caroline & Kyoung
www.wormholing.net

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ABOUT WORMHOLE

Wormhole is a writing/audio/thought experiment in which collaborators Caroline Chang and Kyoung Kim will open a wormhole between Long Beach, CA and Seoul, Korea* on October 3rd, 2009 during SoundWalk through which the public can travel. Using the space and time of SoundWalk, corresponding maps of Long Beach and Seoul with similar physical constants will be created making a wormhole that the two can navigate through and have similar experiences. A record of these experiences through phone conversations will be streamed to the public.

CONCEPT

As defined by the American Heritage Dictionary, a wormhole is “a theoretical distortion of space-time in a region of the universe that would link one location or time with another, through a path that is shorter in distance or duration than would otherwise be expected.” We view wormholes – the idea of being in two places at the same time, of shortcuts in the space time continuum – as the stuff of science fiction. But in actuality, we move through wormholes all the time – with cellphones, internet, radio, live video. In this day and age, we aurally, visually, spatially exist in and on multiple planes all the time with technology. Likewise, despite the many differences that can be found in architecture and geography from place to place, the present day urban spaces we inhabit offer similar enough standardized elements (e.g. asphalt roads, buildings made of similar construction materials, similar urban planning elements), that offer a sense of dejavu and adds to our ability to wormhole. By playing with these elements, Wormhole highlights and considers trends of how we use communication technology and standardization.
Though places and people never exist wholly parallel, breaking symmetry, there are physical constants that we have created for ourselves to defy space and time. When we make a phone call from Long Beach to Seoul, we are creating a wormhole through the electromagnetic waves and the invisible audio of voices, a new singular space in between the two cities where two people can share the same spacetime. Physical markers in our landscapes, our human need to create strong emergent similar systems, creates more visceral wormholes. Two disparate locales, a street in Long Beach and a street in Seoul for example, can be similar enough where a wormhole is created and be a touching point between two different universes. We are constantly wormholing like this existing in these created limbo spacetimes, sharing the same space with people but not quite being there with them. It is a need that extends beyond ourselves, an urge to make our reach far beyond our physical limits but that what we do here and now affects something else someplace else.

PROJECT DETAILS

The Wormhole project begins with Caroline who will be residing in Los Angeles and Kyoung who will be residing in Seoul and will aim to create a wormhole on the day of SoundWalk and between the space of SoundWalk and Seoul. In order to find/create this wormhole, prior to the event date, Caroline will describe the space of SoundWalk aurally and textually (no visuals) via regular email correspondence. The space of SoundWalk will be the skeleton template for the wormhole as it is a temporary space as well, from streets and rooms to linked art event. In turn Kyoung will find and map a similar space in Seoul which corresponds to Caroline’s descriptions and add further details back to Caroline where she will then find similar details at SoundWalk. These correspondences will occur until both have found enough physical constants to create a wormhole wherein both can draw a map that creates seemingly parallel universes.

During the SoundWalk art event, Caroline and Kyoung will “spend a day” or the duration of SoundWalk in the wormhole with each other, encountering the physical constants on the map while talking on the phone. The two will encounter the same ground, the same landscapes, the same plants, the same people, the same eateries, the same shops, etc. and do similar but slightly different things. The conversation will be recorded and then shared through streaming podcast or radio throughout the event. SoundWalk goers can eavesdrop on the wormhole conversations and the time spent together through the website or other means such as radios placed throughout the event sites. By using the event, Caroline and Kyoung will create a wormhole that allows the two of them to exist in the same space without actually being in the same literal space. Listeners will also be able to exist in the wormhole as they will be able to encounter the same spaces as Caroline and Kyoung are moving through them.

For more information, email info@wormholing.net.

*originally between Long Beach and New York