Xiren | Yeon Sung

As part of the Xiren project, Yeon Sung is developing a musical instrument that makes the contamination data of radioactive desert dust from the Sahara and local wind patterns audible and tangible in real time. The desert dust became contaminated during French nuclear tests in Algeria in the 1960s and has been spreading from continent to continent ever since. For Sung, the dust is not only radiological evidence, but also a physical reminder of the slow violence in the former French colony. The project involves archival research in Lyon and a forensic isotopic analysis at the Association pour le Contrôle de la Radioactivité dans l'Ouest in Normandy. Sung is working on the instrument together with design engineer Jeongsik Kim and sound artist Sima Kim. She is also producing open-source documentation, co-authoring an essay with Agnès Villette, and performing at anti-nuclear protests in the Netherlands and France.