2: Labyrinth by DOKKAEBI

2: Labyrinth presents a performance inspired by Hwang Byung-ki’s <Migung>. Deja and yoorae drew heavily from this piece in shaping the early framework of their practice, treating it as a kind of performance manual. Rooted in an urge to overturn convention, their work maximizes improvisation, focusing on raw and provocative expression through the interplay of instruments and voice.

This second chapter documents one of DOKKAEBI’s live rituals held on February 22, 2025 at Art Space 3 near Gwanghwamun, unfolding as a four-part contemporary rite. Outside the gallery, protests were taking place in the streets. Verse 1 summons the spirit through long resonance, Verse 2 moves through joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure, Verse 3 reads aloud the day’s newspaper as a lens into human affairs, Verse 4 closes by chanting an incantation to send the spirit away.

Over 31 minutes, DOKKAEBI leads the audience into trance—walking through and emerging from the labyrinth—attempting a purification of both the conscious and the unconscious.

DOKKAEBI is a Korean trance performance duo inspired by the mythical goblin of ancient folklore.

Formed by Deja and yoorae, their sound blends gugak, techno, ambient, and noise into improvisations that capture the resonance of each space.

Their performances, ranging from ruins to galleries, are modern rituals that are never the same twice.

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