Liquid Crystal Fiber
The publication Liquid Crystal Fiber is a collaboration between writer Merel van Slobbe, visual artist Sujin Moon, and graphic designer Immanuel Yang, who connected during their residency at Jan van Eyck Academie. For all three, language is an inseparable element in their individual practices. Through this publication, they explore how their different disciplines can relate, inform, and influence each other as they collectively engage with language.
The publication features Merel’s poetry and Sujin’s essay, both written during their residency, with Immanuel contributing as the designer who listened, interpreted, and mediated their dialogue, bringing the work together in book form. In her series of poems tracing each stage in the development of an artificial intelligence, Merel adopts the technical vocabulary of Silicon Valley, much of which originally derives from ecological and mystical terms. Sujin’s essay, Snails’ Territory, captures otherwise fleeting moments of her struggles with snails in the garden. Through her writing, she reflects on the process of taking root—conflict, competition, negotiation, and compromise—ultimately leading to coexistence.
작가 Artists: 문서진 Sujin Moon, Merel van Slobbe, Immanuel Yang
그래픽디자인 graphic design: Immanuel Yang
발행 : 2024.9.
THANK YOU
Bernke Klein Zandvoort for feedback and proofreading
Manina Phala, Heeyoon Jung, and James Pickett for translation, copy editing, and proofreading
Romy Finke, An Onghena, Ton van de Ven, Margriet Thissen, and Jessy Cocuzza for printing, binding, and publishing support
This publication was developed at the Jan van Eyck Academie and printed at the Printing and Publishing Lab.
On the day of her presentation at the Jan van Eyck Academie, Merel shared a selection of poems exploring the language of digital technologies. A brief Q&A session followed, raising questions about the best way to present work so centered on digital themes. These questions lingered, as Merel had long been interested in the relationship between poetry and its medium, especially in an era marked by the shift from paper to screen, where text and material are often viewed as distinct elements.
Later that day, Sujin and Merel continued the discussion in the living room of their shared flat. At one point, Sujin spontaneously suggested, “What if we printed your poems on the paper I’ve been making?”
Since moving to Maastricht, Sujin had been working in the garden of her home for the year, gathering and drying weeds, and making paper from their fibers. The question of materializing language—‘In what time and space should a text exist?’—was as relevant to Sujin’s practice as it was to Merel’s. Together, they wondered, “What if Merel’s poems, born in the digital realm, could take form on Sujin’s paper—something so tactile and physical?”
Thus, their collaboration began, and Immanuel soon joined them. The three of them discussed at length the similarities and differences in Sujin and Merel’s work. Initially, their practices seemed at odds: Sujin’s work was grounded in the physical world, bounded by materiality and corporeality, while Merel’s poetry emerged from the boundless, intangible world of the internet. But as their conversations deepened, their languages began to resonate with one another. In her poetry, Merel had been experimenting with embodiment and tactility in relation to the internet, while Sujin sought something in language that could outlast the physical.
Through their constant efforts to find balance between their different languages, disciplines, and practices, they created this collaborative publication. It features Merel’s poetry and Sujin’s essay, both written during their residency, with Immanuel contributing as the designer who listened, interpreted, and mediated their dialogue, bringing the work together in book form. In her series of poems tracing each stage in the development of an artificial intelligence, Merel adopts the technical vocabulary of Silicon Valley, much of which originally derives from ecological and mystical terms. Sujin’s essay, Snails’ Territory, captures otherwise fleeting moments of her struggles with snails in the garden. Through her writing, she reflects on the process of taking root—conflict, competition, negotiation, and compromise—ultimately leading to coexistence.
This publication was developed at the Jan van Eyck Academie and printed at the Printing and Publishing Lab.