Song of the Wind: From Making Together (Sea, Migration, Labour, and the Work of Living Together)

A new book brings together records of a socially engaged art project that began in Wando, South
Jeolla Province, Korea, and extended to the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Portugal
between 2022 and 2026. Song of the Wind: From Making Together - Sea, Migration, Labour, and the
Work of Living Together follows the lives of communities connected by the sea, examining the
conditions of living together in relation to migration, labour, and ecological change.
The project began in Yaksan-myeon, Wando, where local residents and artists came together to
explore the work of seaweed production and local life. Working together, sharing food, and renovating
a disused village hall for renewed use prompted questions about how collaboration takes shape in
everyday relationships. These questions continued to develop and change through encounters with
artists, researchers, activists, and residents in other places.
The book connects distinct sites, from seaweed production in Wando to rivers and living environments
in Hsinchu, Taiwan; urban transformation and flooding in North Jakarta, Indonesia; and coastal erosion
and fishing labour along Portugal’s northern coast. Attending to each place’s particular histories,
institutions, and ecological conditions, it traces how questions raised in one location are revised
through relationships in another.
A question running through these accounts is how opportunities for mobility and the risks of labour are
distributed, and to whom. The book brings together the experiences of artists and researchers who
can visit and leave field sites, migrant workers whose movements are shaped by contracts and
livelihood needs, and residents who must stay or leave as the places where they live change. Through
these experiences, the sea emerges as both a route of exchange and a place where differences in
labour and exposure to risk become visible.
The responsibilities arising through collaboration are another central concern. The book examines how
time, resources, and decision-making authority are distributed between project organisers and
participants, and who is left with the work of sustaining relationships after a project’s formal period
ends. It also considers the author’s position in organising and documenting the project, discussing the
possibilities of collaboration alongside the limits and asymmetrical responsibilities that emerge in
practice.
Questions of coexistence extend beyond humans to seaweed and plants, water and sand, forests, and
the other beings and environments that sustain life. The book relates ecological change to experiences
on the ground, examining its effects on housing, mobility, and the conditions in which people can work.
The title Song of the Wind comes from the experience of singing Cho Yong-pil’s song of the same
name with Wando residents in 2022. In the book, love and coexistence take shape through practices
of responding to the suffering and needs of others, caring for non-human life and places, and
questioning one’s own responsibilities within relationships.
Proceeds from book sales will support future social and ecological collaboration projects