Summersnowglobalism

summersnow
(fluffy, cottony seeds from female poplar trees) 
(microbial medium)
x
snowglobe
(symboiotic optical device)
(fermentation vessel)

x
globalism
(globe-realisation)
(world-making)

This transformation in relation is evident in Dongdongju, a traditional Korean rice wine whose name itself provides insights into the brewing process and its distinctive visual and sensory characteristics. In Korean, “dongdong” (동동) refers to the floating grains or particles seen in the liquid. This term captures a key visual feature of Dongdongju, where bits of rice or sediment are suspended in the drink.

From the initial mixing and fermentation to the final bottling, the “dongdong” (동동) aesthetics manifest in the fashioning of the Summersnowglobe. This sound symbolism, specifically a uitaeo (의태어), effectively illustrates the performative aspect of Summersnowglobalism, suggesting the unique interplay between phenomenological experiences of things coming together and cultural symbolism.

During SUMMERSNOWGLOBALISM, you’ll observe changes in colour, clarity, and the formation of bubbles or sediment as well as sweet and earthy aromas and tastes. In MACROCOSMIC LEVEL, SUMMERSNOWGLOBE therefore REVEALS rice grains decompose and fall like snow in slow motion. 

IN MICROCOSMIC LEVEL, Summersnowglobe is a living history of a real society, where microORGANISMS AND THEIR offsprings shape their environment through their bodily involution.

The process of Summersnowglobalism involves several steps:

1. Preparing cooking utensils and ingredients:

• poplar seeds (microbial medium)
• Hollow glass spheres (fermentation jars)
• Water
• Steamed rice

2. To make Nuruk, a type of fermentation starter, spread summer snow on soaked rice and allow yeast to grow for 3 to 5 days.

3. Combine steamed rice and water with nuruk in the glass sphere.

4. Allow yeast and other microorganisms convert sugars into alcohol from a few days to several weeks.

• The Rice Brewing Sisters Club utilises the Korean fermenting and composting method in their artistic project working as a culturing home for microorganisms collected from rice, and soil. Through a framework of social fermentation every body can be seen as container and carrier of microorganisms who are societal agencies traversing boundaries between migration, localisation, and indignity.

Finally, a related line of reappropriation reflects Ursula K. Le Guin's 'carrier bag theory of fiction,' which suggests that stories are more like a 'carrier bag' - a container that holds different elements, ideas and experiences, rather than following a single, dominant storyline. This is how the artistic manifesto for Summersnowglobalism takes shape itself.

• In 'visual mediation', an artwork by Olafur Eliasson, spheres of different sizes act as optical lenses, disorientating the gaze of a typical type of viewer: It is unclear whether the lens is looking at the viewer or the viewer is looking at the lens thus blurring the binary division between subject and object. The situation of the points of reciprocal view defines a symbiotic relationship in a circuit.
• A prototype of snow globe suggests its ability as optical instrument. Its patent of the technical principle was issued in 1900 by Erwin Perzy, a surgical instrument mechanic and inventor. To magnify the light output in the operating room, he used a cobbler’s ball filled with water and tested grainy substances to optimise the reflection.

The snow globe becomes a container to hold heterogeneous bodies and an optical lens to perform an augmented vision of their becoming in relation.

• The government has ordered the removal of hundreds of thousands of female poplar trees in Kashmir in 2020 to constrain the spread of Covid-19, based on the local belief that its cottony seeds float in the air and settle everywhere, potentially including the respiratory system.
• Many vegetation matters including cotton and rice straw work as transmission medium in various principles and practices.

Summer snow, with its sufficiently hollow internal structure of intertwined fine hairs, becomes a medium for microbial carrier.

The Snow itself is reclaimed as a material medium to activate haptic interactions in the threads of artistic practice. 

The haptic refers to a system of the queer snow globe, its process and total production as such.

The final chapter, Summersnowglobalism, begins by defining the queer use of the 'aporias' to utilise them as material media in a mix with existing artistic and non-artistic methods and protocols, including fermentation in food processing. Sets of rational reflection and conceptual mimesis delineate the artistic framework, process and outcome of the transmedia artwork Summersnowglobalism, including statements of material experimentation, observation of pattern, movement, texture and aesthetic experience.

As a counter-argument of still-life like nature of the snow globe what a real-life snow globe might look like?

Dreaming real-life of queer snow globe that plays scenes of transformation and resistance through the automation of its spatio-temporal aspects itself.

The emergence of the snow globe is often associated with the late 19th century, a period noted for its particular innovations in Western visual culture. One of the first snow globes, prominently linked to the broader context of visual representation, was showcased at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889. This World’s Fair highlighted various technological and artistic advancements, reflecting both the achievements of Western hegemony and the commodification of their colonies’ cultures.

The visual displays depicting the lives of colonised people were arranged with great accuracy. The scenes were presented to the viewers at fixed times in allotted spaces separated by barriers such as interposing fences and glass partitions. The snow globe, as a visual instrument, reflected imperialism’s scientific authority, with organisers aiming to make the world appear measurable and knowable. The rule of sight with specific gaze lies at the core of the problem of modernity.

Central Asian regions like China and Mongolia are at risk of desertification due to existing deserts and various contributing factors. During Mao Zedong’s leadership in the 1950s and 1960s, China undertook extensive tree planting initiatives to combat desertification. Poplar trees were a key component of these efforts due to their rapid growth and soil-stabilising properties.

The Great Leap Forward, driven by the insistence that "man must conquer nature", exemplifies the dialectical process of striving to achieve modern industrial goals. Both the realms of man and his counterpart, nature, are oppressed in this struggle, which is central to understanding modern historical development.

Once celebrated as a “hero tree” for its role in combating desertification and enhancing urban and public well-being, the poplar now poses challenges to its masters. Its cottony seeds, shed by female trees and dispersed by the wind during their reproductive season, create a snowpocalypse that clutters city environments. In response, the authorities in Beijing has implemented measures including the use of specialised equipment to collect and dispose of the seeds, as well as the introduction of contraceptive methods to prevent further seed production.

Aporia is a term originating from ancient Greek philosophy and rhetoric, referring to a state of puzzlement, doubt, or impasse. The term is derived from the Greek word ἀπορία (aporia), which means difficulty or perplexity.

Acknowledging the Snow or more accurately the snow effect as aporia is crucial in the context of postcolonial critique of Summersnowglobalism. The engagement with aporia is to describe inherent contradictions and undecidability within texts in the effort to deconstruct complex social and intellectual issues allowing for a deeper understanding of limitations and blind spots of dominant narratives and an enacting of marginalised perspectives.

In the scopic regime of the modern reason, the oddness of looking at the Other, the self-evident, comes by a way of the dual production along with the hosting of the viewing subject.

The Snow refers to a radical contradiction in the import of the rule of the Same that is seen in deconstruction as inevitable. 

The moment of impossibility of reason set in stone turns into a possibility of a new narrative in the tension between ideality and reality or the scopic regime and haptic dynamics.

The first chapter - Summer Snow  and Snow Globe - employ a range of approaches to cultural analysis, including revisiting historical events from a feminist perspective and critically examining underlying societal norms within them highlighting the ways in which their cultural traditions perpetuate forms of oppression.

At the climax of critiquing existing structures, its focus zooms in on the Snow to reveal the aporia within the constitution of modern reason.

Each chapter - Summer Snow, Snow Globe and Summersnowglobalism - functions as part of a constellation within the written thesis. The holistic meaning emerges from their interconnected matrix structure rather than from considering each chapter in isolation, emphasising the need to explore their interrelationships. The crystallising effect results from both explicit and implicit, as well as superficial and subliminal, connections between the different methodological approaches in the text.

SUMMERSNOW
(FLUFFY, COTTONY SEEDS FROM FEMALE POPLAR TREES) 
(MICROBIAL MEDIUM)
X
SNOWGLOBE
(SYMBOIOTIC OPTICAL DEVICE)
(FERMENTATION VESSEL)
X
GLOBALISM
(GLOBE-REALISATION)
(WORLD-MAKING)

Summersnowglobalism is related lines of work in discipline of artistic research as a production of post-colonial knowledge for art practice. It consists primarily of a written essay and a transmedia artwork, which are the forms of translation with each other and thus share the same title, Summersnowgloblaism.

Not only representing the essence of the content it describes, the title is a moment of history, relation, intimacy which the components in a system fashion itself hinting at the autonomous nature within the work.

Summersnowglobalism is related lines of work in the discipline of artistic research as the production of postcolonial knowledge for art practice.

It consists primarily of a written essay and a transmedia artwork, which are the forms of translation with each other and thus share the same title, Summersnowglobalism.

The title not only represents the essence of the content it describes, but is also a moment of history, relation, intimacy that the components in a system fashion itself, hinting at the autonomous nature within the work.

SUMMER SNOW
(FLUFFY, COTTONY SEEDS FROM FEMALE POPLAR TREES) 
(MICROBIAL MEDIUM)
X
SNOW GLOBE
(SYMBIOTIC OPTICAL DEVICE)
(FERMENTATION VESSEL)

X
GLOBALISM
(GLOBE-REALISATION)
(WORLD-MAKING)

Each chapter—Summer Snow, Snow Globe, and Summersnowglobalism—serves as a component of a broader constellation within the thesis. The comprehensive meaning emerges from their interconnected matrix structure, rather than from examining each chapter independently. This underscores the need for active reading in exploring their interrelationships. The crystallising effect of ideas results from both explicit and implicit , as well as from superficial and deeper, subliminal links between the various methodological approaches presented in the text.

The first and second chapters employ a range of approaches to cultural analysis, including revisiting historical events from a feminist perspective and critically examining the underlying social norms within them highlighting the ways in which their cultural traditions perpetuate forms of oppression. At the climax of critiquing existing structures, its focus zooms in on the Snow to reveal the aporia within the constitution of modern reason.

Aporia is a term originating from ancient Greek philosophy and rhetoric, referring to a state of puzzlement, doubt, or impasse. 

Acknowledging the Snow or more accurately 'snow effect' as aporia is crucial in the context of postcolonial critique of Summersnowglobalism. The engagement with aporia is to describe inherent contradictions and undecidability within texts in the effort to deconstruct complex social and intellectual issues allowing for a deeper understanding of limitations and blind spots of dominant narratives and spotlighting marginalised perspectives.

The Snow is a radical contradiction in the import of the rule of the Same that is seen in deconstruction as inevitable. The moment of impossibility of reason set in stone turns into a possibility of a new narrative in the tension between ideality and reality or the scopic regime and haptic DYNAMICS.

In the scopic regime of the modern reason, the oddness of looking at the Other, the self-evident, comes by a way of the dual production along with the hosting of the viewing subject.

Certain regions of Central Asia, including parts of China and Mongolia, have historically been at risk of desertification due to their proximity to deserts and various contributing factors. During Mao Zedong’s leadership in the 1950s and 1960s, China undertook extensive tree planting initiatives to combat desertification. Poplar trees played a crucial role in these efforts due to their rapid growth and soil-stabilizing properties.

The Great Leap Forward, driven by the insistence that "man must conquer nature", exemplifies the dialectical process of striving to achieve modern industrial goals. Both the realms of man and his counterpart, nature, are oppressed in this struggle, which is central to understanding modern historical development.

Once celebrated as a “hero tree” for its role in combating desertification and enhancing urban and public well-being, the poplar now challenges its human masters. Its cottony seeds, shed by female trees and carried by the wind during their reproductive season, create a snowpocalypse that clutters city environments. In response to these issues, the government in Beijing has implemented measures such as the use of specialised equipment to collect and dispose of the seeds, and the introduction of contraceptive measures to prevent seed production.

The first snow globe is often associated with the late 19th century, a period noted for its particular innovations in Western visual culture. The snow globe, prominently linked to the broader context of visual representation, was showcased at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889. This World’s Fair highlighted various technological and artistic advancements, reflecting both the achievements of Western hegemony and the commodification of their colonies’ cultures.

The visual displays depicting the lives of colonised people were arranged with great accuracy. The scenes were presented to the viewers at fixed times in allotted spaces separated by barriers such as interposing fences and glass partitions. The snow globe, as a visual instrument, reflected imperialism’s scientific authority, with organisers aiming to make the world appear measurable and knowable. The question of seeing and visual representation lies at the core of the problem of modernity.

As a counter-argument of still-life like nature of the snow globe what a real-life snow globe might look like?

Dreaming real-life of queer snow globe that plays scenes of transformation and resistance through the automation of its spatio-temporal aspects itself.

The Snow itself is used as a material medium to activate haptic interactions in the threads of artistic practice. The hapticity refers to a system of the queer snow globe, its process and total production as such.

The final chapter, Summersnowglobalism, begins by defining the queer use of the aporias to utilise them as material media in a mix with existing artistic and non-artistic methods and protocols, including fermentation in food processing. Sets of rational reflection and conceptual mimesis delineate the artistic framework, process and outcome of the transmedia artwork Summersnowglobalism, including statements of material experimentation, observation of pattern, movement, texture and aesthetic experience.

• The government has ordered the removal of hundreds of thousands of female poplar trees in Kashmir in 2020 to constrain the spread of Covid-19, based on the local belief that its cottony seeds float in the air and settle everywhere, potentially including the respiratory system.
• Many vegetation matters including cotton and rice straw work as transmission medium in various principles and practices.

Summer snow, with its sufficiently hollow internal structure of intertwined fine hairs, becomes a medium for microbial carrier.

• In 'visual mediation', an artwork by Olafur Eliasson, transparent spheres of different sizes act as optical lenses, disorientating the gaze of a particular type of viewer: It is unclear whether the lens is looking at the viewer or the viewer is looking at the lens thus blurring the binary division between subject and object. The situation of the points of reciprocal view defines a symbiotic relationship in a circuit.
• A prototype of snow globe suggests its ability as optical instrument. Its patent of the technical principle was issued in 1900 by Erwin Perzy, a surgical instrument mechanic and inventor. To magnify the light output in the operating room, he used a cobbler’s ball filled with water and tested grainy substances to optimise the reflection.

The snow globe becomes a container to hold heterogeneous bodies and an optical lens to perform an augmented vision of their becoming in relation.

• The Rice Brewing Sisters Club utilises the Korean fermenting and composting method in their artistic project working as a culturing home for microorganisms collected from rice, and soil. Through a framework of so-called social fermentation every body can be seen as container and carrier of microorganisms who are societal agencies traversing boundaries between migration and localisation.
   

Finally, a related line of reappropriation reflects Ursula K. Le Guin's 'the carrier bag theory of fiction,' which suggests that stories are more like a 'carrier bag' - a container that holds different elements, ideas and experiences, rather than following a single, dominant storyline. This is how the artistic manifesto for Summersnowglobalism takes shape itself.

The process of Summersnowglobalism involves several steps: 

1. Preparing Cooking Utensils and Ingredients
- poplar seeds (microbial medium) 
- Hollow glass spheres (fermentation jars)
- Water
- Steamed rice 

2. To make Nuruk, a type of fermentation starter, spread summer snow on soaked rice and allow yeast to grow for 3 to 5 days. 

3. Combine steamed rice and water with nuruk in the glass sphere. 

4. Allow yeast and other microorganisms convert sugars into alcohol from a few days to several weeks.

During brewing, you’ll observe changes in colour, clarity, and the formation of bubbles or sediment as well as sweet and earthy aromas and tastes.

In Summersnowglobalism, rice grains decompose and fall like snow in slow motion. 

The Summersnowglobe is a living history of a real society, where microscopic beings shape their environment through their bodily involution.

This transformation in relation is evident in Dongdongju*, a traditional Korean rice wine whose name itself provides insights into its distinctive visual and sensory characteristics through the brewing process. 

In Korean, ヽ`､ヽ`dongdongヽ`､ヽ refers to the floating grains or particles seen in the liquid. This sound captures a key visual feature of Dongdongju, where bits of rice or sediment are suspended in the drink.

*동동주

FROM THE INITIAL MIXING AND FERMENTATION TO THE FINAL BOTTLING, THE ヽ`､ヽ`dongdongヽ`､ヽ performances MANIFEST IN THE FASHIONING OF THE SUMMERSNOWGLOBE. THIS SOUND SYMBOLISM or mimetic word, SPECIFICALLY A UITAEO*, EFFECTIVELY ILLUSTRATES THE PERFORMATIVE ASPECT OF SUMMERSNOWGLOBALISM, SUGGESTING THE UNIQUE INTERPLAY BETWEEN PHENOMENOLOGICAL EXPERIENCES AND CULTURAL SYMBOLISM coming together.

*의태어

Reference:

Bruno Latour. Facing Gaia: Eight Lectures on the New Climatic Regime. Polity Press, 2017.

Bruno Latour. Anti-Zoom. Scale in Literature and Culture, 2017, 93–101.

Javier C. Hernández & Emily Feng. China’s Poplar Trees: A Spring Nuisance That Snows White Fluff. The New York Times, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/16/world/what-in-the-world/chinese-metr….

Donna J. Haraway. Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective. Feminist Studies 14, no. 3,1988): 575.

HACKERS, MAKERS, THINKERS. Seokkeodungdung: Doing Social Fermentation about Workshop by Rice Brewing Sisters Club (RBSC). Art Laboratory Berlin, 2022. https://artlaboratory-berlin.org/events/hackers-makers-thinkers-rbsc-wo….

Esther Leslie. Snowglobalism and Terror Kitsch: Flurry and Freeze in Capitalist Cosmography. The University of California, Berkeley, Institute of International Studies. (Undated).

Hancha Lu. Shanghai Flora: The Politics of Urban Greening in Maoist China. Urban History 45, no. 4, 2017, 660–81. Cambridge University Press.

Jane Bennett. Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Duke University Press, 2010.

Lynn Margulis & Dorion Sagan. Microcosmos: Four Billion Years of Evolution from Our Microbial Ancestors. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.

Anne Maxwell. Colonial Photography and Exhibitions: Representations of the Native and the Making of European Identities. London: Leicester University Press, 2000.

Kaajal Modi. Kitchen Cultures: Fermenting (with) the Trouble. New Socialist, 2021. https://newsocialist.org.uk/kitchen-cultures-fermenting-trouble/.

Michel Foucault. Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias. Architecture / Mouvement / Continuité,1984. (Des Espace Autres,1967. Translated from the French by Jay Miskowiec).

Athar Parvaiz. Cut Down Poplar Trees in Kashmir to Check Covid-19 Spread, Orders Government. The Third Pole, 2021. https://www.thethirdpole.net/en/nature/poplar-trees-in-kashmir/.

Ursula K. Le Guin. The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction. Illustrated by Lee Bul. Introduction by Donna Haraway. Terra Ignota, Volume 1, 2020.

Acknowledgement:

Summersnowglobalism was a MA project in the New Media class at the University of the Arts Berlin and supported by DAAD and ARKO (Arts Council Korea) in 2022.