뿔의 대화: Bokyung Jun
“Point of view on a variation now replaces the centre of a figure or a configuration. The most famous example is that of conic sections, where the point of the cone is the point of view to which the circle, the ellipse, the parabola, and the hyperbola are related as so many variants that follow the incline of the section that is planned (Scenographies). All these figures become so many ways by which a “flat projection” is mapped out.”
— Gilles Deleuze, 『The Fold: Leibniz and the Baroque』, p.40
Through evolution, many human organs have degenerated. The little toe, coccyx, and wisdom teeth are remnants of this process. But humans also possess invisible, abstract “organs” that have not disappeared. Horns are one such organ. Like deer, giraffes, or oxen, humans have (invisible) horns. Their position and number on the human body are unknown, but their principles and function can be explored visually – if we return to the Renaissance of the 18th century.
Albrecht Dürer’s 『Draughtsman making a Perspective Woman』 (1592), a study in perspective, can be reinterpreted to explain the formation and function of horns. A woman lies on a table while a man sits before her, observing her through a grid frame. If we imagine stretching threads from his eye to divide the subject along the grid, a cone emerges. This invisible cone geometrically visualises how a human perceives objects, and the world, according to their own scale.
Human horns, like a young deer’s, are flexible. When they come into contact with others, they can change, but over time, one’s perspective becomes fixed, like bone. Unlike a deer’s horns, which stop growing or changing after a certain age, human horns never fully solidify. Through our horns, we continually expand or contract the world as we interact with others, through conflict and reconciliation, separation and sharing, understanding and misunderstanding, fact and interpretation.
《뿔의 대화》 encourages the encounter of horns generated by individuals’ memories and personal stories. Like counterpoint, where independent melodies play simultaneously and intertwine, horns collide and undergo variations, altering how we perceive ourselves, objects, and the world. In this process, the horns become flexible, unfamiliar, and move beyond their former limits. Through these invisible horns, we attempt endless dialogue.