Cha Yeonså, Spring Night, 2026. Live performance, 1 hour (performers: Sunhee Bae, Nari Sohn, Ven. Donghwan, Isu Mignon Mignonne, Tetokun, Jaehun, Cha Yeonså). Curated by Je Yun Moon. Hosted by HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Commissioned by Goethe-Institut Korea. Photo by Jaehun.
Cha Yeonså, Spring Night, 2026. Dress rehearsal of live performance, 1 hour (performers: Sunhee Bae, Nari Sohn, Ven. Donghwan, Isu Mignon Mignonne, Tetokun, Jaehun, Cha Yeonså). Curated by Je Yun Moon. Hosted by HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Commissioned by Goethe-Institut Korea. Photo by Jaehun.
Cha Yeonså, Spring Night, 2026. Pre-production rehearsal of live performance, 1 hour (performers: Sunhee Bae, Nari Sohn, Ven. Donghwan, Isu Mignon Mignonne, Tetokun, Jaehun, Cha Yeonså). Curated by Je Yun Moon. Hosted by HAU Hebbels am Ufer. Commissioned by Goethe-Institut Korea. Photo by Jaehun.
Cha Yeonså, Spring Night, 2025. Live performance, 3 hours (performers: Sunhee Bae, Nari Sohn, Ven. Donghwan, Isu Mignon Mignonne, Tetokun, Cha Yeonså) Curated by Je Yun Moon. Hosted by DOOSAN Art Gallery DOOSAN Art Center. Commissioned by Goethe-Institut Korea. Photo by Hong Jiyoung.
The empty auditorium / 빈 객석
The stage within the stage / 무대 안의 무대
We call to you, all gathered here, with one whole heart. Oh names that never answer, no matter how we cry. Come gently now, drifting on spring winds, on flower winds. Is this a dream, is this an illusion? How helplessly war and massacre repeat themselves. How helplessly silence repeats itself here, where the Holocaust once passed. / We call to the spirits of this day with one whole heart. As we live, there is never a day without birth, nor a day without departure. In homes, on streets, in buildings, in bathrooms, in the mountains, at sea, in the military — by suicide, by shattered glass, by acid burns, struck by cars, choked into silence. Even after death, stripped and desecrated. The body that was yours, suddenly gone. Whether beaten to death or left to rot, human or animal. What can be done, who can truly know the desperation and urgency of a single breath? / Spirit of this day, oh wandering spirit. This day, in this brief moment of prayer, offered with all sincerity, may you set down all hurt, all wrongs, all suffering. May you meet a better world and kinder bonds in the next life.
As I was born all of a sudden, so too I may leave. Though I was not ready to leave, I will set down my desire for revenge to end this endless cycle of karma. Like a young dog, deaf and blind, nose to the earth, licking the ground, following the wind to find the way, walking softly through the cool air and returning home. So too, with courage and calm, I will walk the way I must.
Merit upon merit, all merits long gathered. Fulfilled upon fulfilled, may all be shared. Assisted by the powers of compassion and vow You swiftly cross the river, into the arms of boundless light. What a relief. Maha Prajna Paramita. Maha Prajna Paramita. Maha Prajna Paramita.
(Hwacheong of Spring Night. Lyrics by Cha Yeonså, Composition and Consultation by Ven.Donghwan.)
지심걸청 지심걸청 일회대중에 일심봉청 그아무리 불러봐도 대답없는 이름이여 봄바람에 꽃바람에 선들선들 어서오소 꿈이어라 헛이어라 어이하여 속절없이 반복되는 전쟁과 학살이여 홀로코스트 비극 지나간 이곳에서 반복되는 침묵이여 / 나무 일심봉청 살아가며 하루하루 태어난 이 없는 날이 없을 것이고 떠나는 이 없는 날도 없을 것이니 집안에서 거리에서 건물에서 화장실에서 산속에서 바다에서 군대에서 자살하고 유리병 깨지고 염산 맞고 차에 치이고 입막히고 죽은 후에도 벗겨지고 훼손되어 별안간에 있던 몸이 없어졌소 맞아죽고 곪아죽은 사람이든 동물이든 단한숨의 간절함과 긴박함을 어이할고 뉘가알까 / 금일영가 영가시여 금일날 지극한 정성으로 잠시나마 기도하는 이 시간을 봉행하는 공덕으로 서운함과 억울함과 모든 고통 다 내려 놓으시고 다음생엔 좋은세상 좋은인연 만나시길 바랍니다.
별안간에 태어났으니 별안간에 가야한다면 또 가야지요. 떠날 준비는 안됐으나 복수심을 내려놓고 만나고 또 만나는 이 업보를 멈추려니 눈이 없고 귀가 없는 어린 개가 코를 박고 땅을 핥고 바람 따라 길을 찾아 서늘하게 산책하고 집으로 돌아가듯이 용기와 평온함으로 가야할 길 가보렵니다.
공덕 공덕 상래소수 불공덕 원만 원만 회향삼처 성실원만 관음보살 대자비와 지장보살 원력으로 순식간에 극락강을 건너가서 아미타불 대원품에 들어가니 이얼마나 다행한 일인가. 마하반야바라밀. 마하반야바라밀. 마하반야바라밀.
(봄밤 화청, 작사 차연서, 자문/작곡 동환스님)
2025년 12월 서울에서 세 시간 동안 열린 <봄밤>이 2026년 5월 베를린, 봄의 끝자락에서 반복된다. 이번 퍼포먼스는 다성적 목소리의 소란스러운 현존을 불러일으키며, 그것을 눈꺼풀을 내린 존재들의 침묵으로 전환한다. 그것은 태어날 때부터 들리지 않고 보이지 않는 어린 개의 선천적인 용기 및 평화로움과 동행한다.
제목 <봄밤>은 김언희 시인의 동명의 시에서 가져온 것이다. 이 시에 등장하는 주먹만 한 백골과 흰 꽃들은, 어미도, 새끼도, 주인도, 독자도 없이, 이미 발라먹힌 채 남겨진 빈 몸으로서 열린다. 그 안에 남는 것은 비극이 아니라—마침내 맞고 잠든 후에야 도달하는 기쁨 뿐이다.
— 글 차연서, 2026
First performed in Seoul in 2025, the midwinter, three hours — Spring Night recurs in Berlin in 2026, at the tail end of spring. This iteration calls the restless presence of polyphonic voices, giving way to the silence of those who have lowered their eyelids. It moves in companionship with the native courage and peacefulness of a young dog, born deaf and blind.
The title Spring Night (봄밤) is borrowed from a poem of the same name by Kim Eon Hee. The fist-sized bones and white flowers in this poem, open as empty bodies that have been devoured, with no mother, no offspring, no owner, no reader. What remains is not tragedy but joy, finally being struck and falling into sleep.
- Writing by Cha Yeonså, May 2026.
Spring Night
Sun 31.5.2026, 16:00 / HAU1
Performance / Korean, English / With English subtitles / 1 hour
“Spring Night” develops from the motif of the “dog beneath the magnolia tree – miscarrying, beaten, and finally asleep”, drawn from a poem by South Korean poet Kim Eon Hee. The Berlin version, following its premiere in the depths of winter in Seoul, unfolds as a ritual in late spring – something that arrives from afar and is already in the process of disappearing. In this one-hour interactive performance, voices and sounds intertwine with fragments of poetry, deconstructed vocalizations, and Buddhist chanting. Here, loneliness appears as a shared condition: each person remains alone within their own perception, yet is gathered within a collective rhythm of attention and movement.
Text, direction, and paper artwork: Cha Yeonså / Performers: Sunhee Bae, Nari Sohn, Ven. Donghwan, Isu Mignon Mignonne, Tetokun, Jaehun, Cha Yeonså / Curatorial text: “At the Edge of the Hole: Spring Night” by Je Yun Moon / Graphic design: Hyunjin In / Local production support: Isu Kim Lee / Photo documentation: Jaehun / Video documentation: Asarela Orchidia Dewi with Hani Hamza / Audience Companion: Azul / Field recording treatment: Solyoub Lee / Poetry translation: Nari Sohn, Soje, Sebastian Claren
Part of “Being Alone - Artistic Perspectives from Central and East Asia and Beyond“, a project within “Solitude: Loneliness & Freedom,” an initiative of the Goethe-Institutes in East and Central Asia in cooperation with HAU Hebbel am Ufer. Curatorial contribution by Je Yun Moon. Commissioned by Goethe-Institut Korea.