Min Yoon
Photo by Mayra Wallraff
We are officially in Berlin! And it’s a love at first sight! The city’s electrifying vibe cuts straight through our hearts (yes, with a dramatic emphasis on "cut"). To kick off our local convo there, we reached out to the brilliant dancer Min Yoon, whose work—just like this city—dives deep to uncover the truth, even if it means showing us the gritty, the raw, and the downright ugly.
We’re new to Berlin. If you had to describe the city in just one word, what would it be?
flat
the landscape, the minimalist aesthetics, the stark architecture
in the rhythms of techno reverbs from the flattening
What has your experience been like living and creating here?
In some ways, it has been very open, thanks to the international community of artists. At the same time, it feels sprawling due to its vastness and variety. However, it can also feel restrictive, as Germany’s tradition of classical arts often emphasizes defining and categorizing disciplines.
In your works addressing violence, are there specific stories, experiences, or events that inspire or inform your approach?
I feel like many of us are obsessed with or entangled in violence, both in the media and in our lives in some way. There are so many types of violence that we face daily, both near and far. I’ve been experimenting with my personal experiences, historical memories, and group experiments around violence for the past seven years or so.
One experience in Berlin that surprised me was the collision of past, present, and international events. I had a performance in 2018 that I created in the US called “post/origins of a woman,” inspired by and honoring the history of the wianbu, comfort women, Korean survivors of military sexual violence by the Imperial Japanese army during WWII (1932-1945), and also the more contemporary #MeToo movement. I discovered that there are bronze statues commemorating and grieving the comfort woman history in Berlin and around the world, with the statue in Berlin currently facing removal by the Berlin and Japanese governments. Fast forward to 2024, I was asked to dance my piece, which I happened to have created, in front of the statue in honor, grief, and memorial of… protest with… I learned that this statue of peace, named Ari, in Berlin-Moabit had also become an international meeting place and a symbol of postcolonial violence still happening around the world. I will not forget the looks in the eyes of people from around the world, as well as the Korean and Japanese elders who stand with Ari.
Photos by Miyeon Choi
How does collaboration influence and shape your creative process?
I like to dance as if I am entering a different world or state of existence. Within these alternate worlds, I dance with real and fantasy collaborators that expand the worlds we create and play in. Long-term collaborations keep me sustained into the depths.
Why do you think Americans consistently choose men as presidents?
Why do some people choose boiled potatoes? Not too controversial, easy to digest, and they’ve been on the menu so long, people don’t even check for alternatives.
War... how would you complete that thought?
War… repeats patterns in ourselves here and far…
War… from the perspectives of those not directly confronted, is outsourced trauma…
War… scars much longer than the physical battles…
