Overview
《靜, Three Soundworks for Tea》 was a sound installation exhibition presented at Curated Columns, Seoul, from 17 to 26 April 2026. Planned, curated, installed, and operated by Jinwoo, it extended the sound works from 《Three Soundworks for Tea, “靜韻茶樂, Quiet Measure”》 into a spatial listening format.
The project began with the Joseon-era concept of ye-ak (禮樂), the interrelated practice of ritual propriety and music, and reconsidered the spirit of da-ak (茶樂)—music associated with the practice of tea—through a contemporary sound language. Within this framework, music does not serve primarily to intensify emotion. It helps regulate the disposition of body and mind and establish a quiet balance. This perspective continues through darye (茶禮), the practice of preparing and sharing tea, in which an order of conduct and space gradually takes shape.
Here, music exists by permeating the room rather than asserting itself as its focus. The exhibition attends to restraint over display, and to balance and harmony over dramatic expression. Samples of traditional Korean instruments and synthesizer sounds are used neither as contrasts nor as quotations. Their timbres are woven into shared textures, allowing an earlier attitude toward music to be reconsidered within a present-day sound environment rather than separating past from present.
The existing room was cleared, and the speaker system was concealed from view so that sound could inhabit the space without revealing its source. Visits took place by advance reservation, with up to two people in each session. Within this intimate setting, the encounter with emptiness and sound was intended to offer visitors a quiet interval for reflection.
