Score for unlanguaging is Chun’s ongoing series of tactile drawings that are semi”readable” and semiabstract, taking shape amid disjointed symbols from the Roman alphabet that are subject to redactions—markings used to conceal sensitive information—which are then repeated, layered, and partially erased. Using an alphabet stencil, Chun abstracts semiotic shapes and meanings in order to consider new textual trajectories and cosmologies. The score’s patterned paper is custommade by Chun, who incorporates various bureaucratic watermarks into her own “score” of nonlinearcomposition lines. In so doing, she imbues the score with nuanced and circular passages of language, meaning, and legibility. The process of “unlanguaging” that Chun proposes becomes more concrete as the project progresses further into the artist’s diasporic experience and the philosophy of oral traditionsin Asia. From a Korean perspective, traditional sounds are based on the rhythms of life that produce breaths such as speaking, singing, and telling stories. The scores are also activated through performance and collaborations with other artists, who are invited by Chun to”translate” them in their own interpretations.
