During this time, Lyndsey’s individual research project aimed to explore connections between flotsam motifs in mythology, especially on Jeju Island, and the growing presence of marine debris.
FLOTSAM:
“ What drifts out to sea and is carried by its waters is considered to be divine in nature and origin. Around the Korean Peninsula, Flotsam is not only entwined in cultural narratives, practices, and belief systems about divinity but is also deeply entangled in the dynamics and forces of the Kuroshio Current 쿠로시오 해류 (or the Black Current).
However, in recent years, the volatility of Flotsam has overturned its role as a vessel carrying sacred matter and beings, as it has become predominantly composed of marine debris and plastic pollution. Reflecting on Flotsam as a transient, otherworldly materiality that reveals the mixing of greater planetary forces, Lyndsey’s research aims to creatively engage with flotsam as an artefact of both techno-doom and divinity.”
As a possible output and creative product of the ongoing research, Lyndsey produced an RPG (Role-Playing Game) video game. This practice is a continuation of Lyndsey’s ongoing work to explore and experiment with how video games and gaming can be used as new models of archival systems and foster modes of resistance against techno-doom narratives.
However, in recent years, the volatility of Flotsam has overturned its role as a vessel carrying sacred matter and beings, as it has become predominantly composed of marine debris and plastic pollution. Reflecting on Flotsam as a transient, otherworldly materiality that reveals the mixing of greater planetary forces, Lyndsey’s research aims to creatively engage with flotsam as an artefact of both techno-doom and divinity.”
As a possible output and creative product of the ongoing research, Lyndsey produced an RPG (Role-Playing Game) video game. This practice is a continuation of Lyndsey’s ongoing work to explore and experiment with how video games and gaming can be used as new models of archival systems and foster modes of resistance against techno-doom narratives.
Documentation of The Fifth Element’s 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺, a gathering to share the initial results of set‘s curatorial research project and participating artist’s research. This event took place at LDK, July 2026.
Images TBA
Documentation of “FLOTSAM” video game prototype.
Documentation of FLOTSAM video game prototype, featuring its internal game layout with event markers.
About “The Fifth Element” (by set):
The title The Fifth Element originates from the elemental theories of ancient Greece. Aristotle posited that all things consist of four elements but he also proposed a fifth element, aether, to account for the celestial realm that these four could not explain. Aether was conceived as an unchanging, eternally circulating substance, symbolizing a perfect order in contrast to terrestrial imperfection. However, The Fifth Element invoked in this project is not the perfect aether of antiquity; rather, it represents the volatile and uncontrollable face of nature that eludes the original four elements. Under a title that encompasses nature's indifference to humanity—manifested in forms like lava (fire + earth), marshes (water + earth), dust (earth + air), and oil (water + fire)—this project contemplates atypical entities existing beyond anthropocentric classification systems, queer nature, and an unpredictable future. It seeks to deliberate on a future that may arrive even after a catastrophe: a "future after the future."
Consequently, this project aims to declare and explore a contemporary stance toward nature defined not by hospitality, but by hostile coexistence or a state of mutual indifference. Moving beyond the image of nature as a fragile, maternal object in need of protection, this research centers on keywords such as ever-changing nature, uncontrolled nature, and hostile or indifferent coexistence, weaving these threads into an irregular and chaotic format. The project will consist of diverse activities, including cooking workshops, DIY farming, lectures, field trips, literature reviews, screenings, physical activities, and gatherings. International researchers and artists visiting Korea will engage in active collaboration and direct/indirect exchange with local counterparts sharing common themes—ranging from queer ecology rooted in the Korean environment to broader issues of environmentalism, sexual and gender norms, heteronormativity, and kin-centrism.
Credits:
“FLOTSAM” by Lyndsey Walsh
“The Fifth Element” participating artists: Lyndsey WALSH, Venus Jasper, quori theodor, Hallie AYRES
Curation: set (KIM Yeomyeong, FOG Jiyul, LEE Jungmin)
Hosted by KIM Yeomyeong
Supported by Arts Council Korea