In 2003 “Cunnilingus in North Korea” was released by Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries (YHCHI) and is an ANIMATED, AUDIO CODE-WORK DOCUMENTARY in its replication of words spoken by Kim Jong-Il (so say the artists). Its LOCATIVE NEW-MEDIA FLASH grabs the attention of the view/read-er with YHCHI’s particular style of music driven VISUAL-POETRY. The music, belonging to Nina Simone, is an energetic sub-text to the dialogue of the piece which speaks of North Korean men’s mastery of cunnilingus in order to please and empower the women of North Korea. Interestingly, the particular song “Sea-Lion Woman” has its own dialogue of a woman who “moans and wails” and how she “make [sic] man lose his head.” It is a song about the control and power that women have over men. A similar dialogue is given through “Cunnilingus in North Korea” where men and women are equals, but the men take pride in their ability to please their women and keep them happy… and satisfied. What becomes more satisfying as one views the piece a second or third time is that the lyrics of the song become more apparent and less of the text needs to be drawn upon. Each view/listen-ing brings another experience forward, almost a tantalizing orgy of sound
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and text that delivers both the frustration of waiting (for the climax) and of achieving the ultimate result of final release when the story closes full circuit. Even more enjoyable is that if one leaves the page open, it repeats! Over, and over, and over again!
Hayles, in her book Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary refers to another work (“The Set of U”) where there is a “verbal text and [a] sonic component” (19). This may help to illustrate the idea that using sound and text is certainly nothing new insofar as one might see it used in the digital age. The EXPLORATORY (I must insist on this word as a deliberate pun) and AMBIENT nature of “Cunnilingus in North Korea” does indeed combine both text and sound in a black and white – with occasional FLASHes of red – manner. Hayles does later speak about another YHCHI piece, “Dakota” which, in a very similar fashion, “proceeds in rhythmic syncopation” to a portion Ezra Pound’s “Cantos” and piece of Art Blakey’s jazz. Without missing accuracy, Hayles also notes that the aesthetic strength of “Dakota” comes from its “text, music, and timed sequence[s]” (29). She goes on to mention that Jessica Pressman has identified “Dakota” as a work of digital modernism. It would be remiss to ignore those two words when considering the place that “Cunnilingus in North Korea” has in modern electronic literature. “ELECTRONIC LITERATURE IS NOT PRINT” is the header of Hayles’ next segment (30) that without any further referencing to the text itself one can gather that there is nothing short of a very clear statement being made. Relating it to “Cunnilingus in North Korea,” or any number of other works by YHCHI for that matter, it is an obvious statement. “Paying attention to the ways in which electronic literature both extends and disrupts print conventions is” worth taking a moment to chew on (30). There’s something to be said for Hayles’ commentary about the derision from the literary-critic heavy-hitters that decry the value of the digital medium – her mentioning this brings one to wonder if there’s something worth separating out from the current definition. Perhaps the problem, as Hayles says, arises “with identifying the hyperlink as electronic literature’s distinguishing characteristic” as being different or the same as its predecessor’s – that is, print media (31). “Cunnilingus in North Korea” is about as scripted as a work can get – and rigidly so. There is no flipping of pages, there is no pause, there is no starting nor stopping at a user-decided place – indeed, the work forcibly takes the view/listen-er on a journey that, once started, can only be prematurely ended, listened to or watched in its entirety, or pre-emptively started again from scratch. In that regard, Hayles as (I imagine, not accidentally) identified a fairly stark difference – the lack of flexibility in the interaction with works such as those produced by YHCHI.
So, what about YHCHI? Who are they? They are “a Seoul-based collaboration between Young-Hae Chang and Marc Voge” (Hayles, 29) that began in 1999. Their works, as can be readily seen on their web-page, are available in multiple languages. The programming is typically done in Flash, a contemporary animation programming language designed by Adobe. Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries has appeared around the world, and have even arrived on the other
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side of the planet in Vancouver to present their works in local shows. “Young-Hae Chang is an artist and translator with a PhD in aesthetics” and “Marc Voge is an American Poet who lives in Seoul” (Wiki).
WORKS.CITED
Hayles, Katherine N. Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary. University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana. 2010. Print.
Wikipedia. “Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries”. 16 MARCH 2013. WEB. 21 MARCH 2013.
Young-Hae Chang Heavy Industries. “CUNNILINGUS IN N0RTH K0REA”. Seoul, Korea. 2003. WEB. 21 MARCH 2013.