Donghoon Gang is an artist, composer, and researcher.
Not quite my tempo!, 2023
Quadraphonic sound installation, 04’08”
It is based on the Swing-Jugend, a group of young people who secretly enjoyed jazz—particularly swing—in late 1930s Germany, when the genre was being banned. The work explores the psychological effects of order and disorder on crowds through the element of musical beat. Music used by large organizations such as schools and the military relies on downbeats, while upbeats are avoided, as they evoke a sense of freedom and a desire to dance, making collective control more difficult.
Furthermore, jazz—largely structured around the upbeat and developed by non-white musicians—was openly ridiculed and exhibited in traveling shows such as Entartete Kunst (“degenerate art”), alongside other blacklisted artists in Germany.
Composed entirely for percussion, the piece begins with the structure of a large-scale snare march associated with control, before abruptly shifting into bebop jazz.
