Sunggu Hong Raised by the Chronic; Beyond, the Moth

Who performs in this space? A person, a machine, light or even the entrance door? In this performance, all human and non-human beings share time and space: waiting, moving and responding to each other, constantly disturbing one another. Fragments of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 create strange moments. Along the way, Sunggu Hong, tells stories about our complex relationships and living together, asking: What are we? And how are we raised by one another?

How are we raised by one another?
The research-based project Raised by the Chronic; Beyond, the Moth is about our complex relationships between humans and non-human beings from a decolonial perspective. Sunggu Hong examines a web of mutual dependencies: we influence one another, not only through love, care, but also through discipline, harm and destruction. The performance investigates the diverse influences that shape our constitution of being and our relationship to the world and explores critically the discourse of living together.

A central reference point is Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. With its ideals of joy and universal humanism, it has shaped generations of people. Hearing this iconic Western symphony at Seoul Station led Sunggu Hong to reconsider how we live together: How can this symphony be retold under today's complex conditions of coexistence?

Sunggu Hong connects this question to broader ideas of education, responsibility and technology. In a society increasingly structured by AI, he explores who and what shapes the transmission of values, and how technological developments influence future generations.

In Raised by the Chronic; Beyond, the Moth human, machines and objects share time and space. The result is a multifaceted exploration of coexistence, in which responsibility and interdependence are constantly being renegotiated.