Graduation project
Soft Grain
Pyeori Jung
A sculptural installation produces and destroys rice-like clay grains as a way to denounce monocultural farming practices in Icheon, South Korea.
Monocultural farming practices in Icheon, South Korea, have left the soil barren and the land abandoned. Soft Grain is a sculptural installation that explores the absurdity of capitalistic control over nature, which has led to this desolation. The first phase of the installation entails a high-tech process creating rice-like clay grains, representing the indifference of mass production. In the destruction stage, the clay rice grains are heated, ground, and pulverised, emphasising the ephemeral qualities of rice’s existence and its consumption. Representing the tragedy of the Anthropocene, the installation hopes to bring visibility to and encourage the remediation of the contaminated soil of Icheon.