Electric komungo performer and Guggenheim Composer Fellow Jin Hi Kim creates A Ritual for Covid-19 in memory of 400,000 deaths in the USA and 2 million deaths worldwide during the pandemic. The work, inspired by Korean Shamanistic ssitkimkut ritual that purifies the deceased spirit. Kim presents a live interactive performance on the world’s only electric komungo as she presents a range of projected images reflective of the coronavirus pandemic. A Community Covid Processional enters the performance space where a 100-yard white cloth is symbolically used in a shaman ritual to release the grief. This performance is in the spirit of healing of the apocalyptic years of 2020-21 created in collaboration with with Joe Lavasseur (stage/lighting design) and Jorge Morales Pico (video design).
This project is funded through the Rebecca Blunk Fund, in memory of Rebecca Blunk (1953-2014).