Published by Sternberg Press and Art Sonje Center

Solitary is a collection of texts written at a wellness center in South Korea designed as a mock prison. This facility is run by an organization called Happitory—a portmanteau of “Happiness” and “Factory.” Happitory offers retreats for teenagers, company employees, government officials, and the general public. Some sessions involve drama therapy, others are led by Buddhist monks. Most disoncerting is a program of “solitary confinement,” where one can spend twenty-four hours of technology-free time locked in an individual cell.

To create Solitary, I and nine colleagues based in South Korea spent time in "solitary confinement," producing texts using the materials on hand. Contributors include Jaeyeon Chung, Sunjin Kim, Hyunjeung Kim, Kyungmook Kim, Min Kyoung Lee, Woochang Lee, Russell Mason, InYoung Yeo, and Jiwon Yu. The book was designed by Luke Gould, edited by me, and primarily translated by Minji Chun.

Certain questions drove our writing. How does one square the relaxation promised by Happitory with the way solitary confinement functions in actual prisons? What types of thinking and writing become possible through its restrictions—no books, no technology, just writing materials? How might the emphasis on writing relate to texts by Oscar Wilde, Antonio Gramsci, Kim Dae-jung, Shin Young-bok, and others produced during periods of imprisonment?

Taken as a whole, Solitary is unique in being both a collection of texts and a collective artwork: an experiment in site-specific writing.

Additional Resources:

In conversation with Sanghee Kim, Eazel

In conversation with contributors Kyungmook Kim, Woochang Lee, and Jiwon Yu, ArtReview Asia

Order Solitary from Sternberg Press, MIT Press, les presses du réel, and Art Sonje Center

Launches and talks at Art Sonje Center, Seoul (with Kyungmook Kim, Woochang Lee, and Jiwon Yu); After 8, Paris; Good Press, Glasgow; Canal Projects, New York (with Patricia Eunji Kim); San Serriffe, Amsterdam (with Becket MWN); Tenderbooks, London (with Cliff Lauson); and a.p., Berlin (with InYoung Yeo)