Andrew Sungtaek Ingersoll
38 North December 11, 2021 - January 23, 2022
Referencing both the latitudinal demarcation drawn by US military planners that severed the Korean peninsula, and a shared
relationship to the geographic boundary that connects Seoul and the artist’s home of San Francisco.
At the confluence of modern technology and Korean tradition, Ingersoll diverts two oppositional flows into one unholy estuary. His own
fabricated commons of nowhere, a DMZ. In a dynamic, immersive, and interactive installation of lasers, parking cameras,
robotics, cymbals, and homemade instruments, the artist uses Ping-Pong as an unlikely voice of reunification – A reference
to the unified North & South Korean Table Tennis Women’s team, which won the 1991 world table tennis championship.
Through his collaboration with musician and multi disciplinary artist, Roger Kim; Andrew Sungtaek Ingersoll activates two
totems of unification through his newest work. Attendees are welcomed to a game of ping-pong, striking sensors with each
volley over the net. This sported dance communicates a variety of actions to the hardwired Gayageum (a traditional Korean
plucked Zither), orchestrating a unique song to the players moves. When the ball contacts the net, a kkwaenggwari gong,
hung above the players heads is struck.
Born in Los Angeles, CA and raised just outside of Camp Pendleton, the Marine Corp base north of San Diego,
Andrew Sungtaek Ingersoll (b.1993 draws from two familial lineages, one of US military service members, and the other of Korean immigrants.
Utilizing elements from traditional Korea crafts and music combined with commonly manufactured items such as sporting equipment
and domestic objects, Ingersoll creates sculptura inventions and installations through processes of wood and metal fabrication,
DIY robotics, and self-taught engineering.
