Bin Koh

Dividual Tensifier (script)

Dividual Tensifier is a stage set and a sound installation that emulates a ticket office, a meeting point in a prison, or a confession booth. On stage, three performers assume the roles of female human or non-human workers engaged in an immaterial labor system in a realm that is both digital and physical. The stage is continuously transformed by the acts and movements of the performers such that the ticket office becomes a nail salon, the confession booth, a data centre and so on. Here the script for the performance is reproduced together with the audio track that accompanies the performance, and visual documentation of a staging of the performance at the 2018 Sandberg Instituut Graduation Show.

Sound Design by Leevisa, Vito Willems | Performance with Bin Koh, Sumin Lee, and Goya Choi

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Dividual Tensifier | Sound Design by Leevisa, Vito Willems

[Act 1]
(Attach false nails)
After she warmed my hands up I suddenly wondered:
"Don’t you want to be cared for as well?" I asked
"I’m more than happy taking care of other people" she answered.
Bullshit. I thought.
She pushed my cuticle so hard to make them half moons.
"Why do you do this?" I asked
"For the aesthetic reason" she answered.
And she continued speaking.
(Singing)
The pink half-moon on the third joint of my slender finger
I seem to have lost my hands around here
Now only holes appear
We’re now only holes up here
Look at me up here!
Look at me up here!
Look at me up here!

[Act 3]
Hi it’s me again.
I seem to have lost my hands around here.
Have you seen them by any chance?
Sorry, no items match your search.
Can you search harder?
I feel like I lost my second voice.
Sorry, no items match your search.
Please?
(Put hands through the shield, hold hands and break the false nails)
(Refill the false nails)

[Act 1]
(Put lotion on the hands)
Well, I just realized that I can’t pay her.
I’m so non-profitable and non-fitable. Just like her.
Since I realized that I can’t pay her, I pretended to look at the screen on my phone in hopes of avoiding eye contact with her.
(Swipe the audience with a finger on the shield)
Swipe. Swipe. Swipe. Swipe. Swipe. Swipe. Swipe. Swipe.
I only see many faces. Face here. face there. Mostly white.
It’s not fair that they wouldn’t see my face.
I thought.
(Attach false nails)
Engrave them with something sharp
Engrave what?
Engrave them with something sharp
Engrave what?
Engrave them with something sharp
Engrave what?
Engrave them with something sharp
Engrave what?
Engrave them with something sharp
Engrave what?
Engrave them with something sharp
Engrave what?

[Act 2]
(Engrave eyes, nose, lips and ears with a knife on the face)

[Act 3]
Hi it’s me again.
You know, my face and body were covered by bugs.
I could see them and hear them but I couldn’t reach them.
I tried to scratch them off again and again.
But I couldn’t.

I want to report a bug.
(Put hands out and pretend to write on a keyboard)

Sorry, There is a bug uploading your bug report.
I want to report a bug.
Sorry, There is a bug uploading your bug report.
I want to report a bug.
Sorry, There is a bug uploading your bug report.
I want to report a bug.
Sorry, There is a bug uploading your bug report.
I want to report a bug.
Sorry, There is a bug uploading your bug report.
I want to report a bug.

(Refill the false nails using chopped nails)

[Act 2]
(Rub the eyes and make them red)

[Act 1]
(Attach false nails - chopped nails)
"Oh darling why are you crying?" she asked
"I’m not crying. I’ve just got sunburn on my eyes" I said.
You know what sunburn is?
You even know what it feels like?
Sunburn is like a human being that makes loads of money from information technology or something and goes on holiday and spends loads of money. That is what sunburn is like.
And you better stop calling me darling. You are not allowed to call me a darling.
I thought.

[Act 2]
(Rub the body with hands)

[In front of the shield]
Dancing – BE HAPPY
(Creep over the floor. Back to the position while biting nails. Keep working.)

[Act 3]
Hi it’s me again.
I want to apply for a holiday.
Sorry, your application is rejected.

About the author

The practice and research of visual artist/performer Bin Koh (1990, South Korea) is focussed on the mechanization and standardization of human and non-human female voices in a public and digital realm, which often contains ‘sincerity’ and ‘niceness’ as it is carefully managed by a highly performative society. Koh recently graduated from Sandberg Instituut from Master of Voice, exploring a blurry line between niceness and hysteria.Â