Created for Busan Biennale 2020, this speculative fiction is a simulation of the near future, around a decade after the COVID-19 global pandemic of 2020. As a sort of ‘creative sabotage of the future’, the project delves into a possible world, reflecting and distorting the conditions of the current world.

In the wake of climate change and depletion of natural resources brought on by fossil fuels, eco-friendly bio-fuels have become society’s main energy source. The chief source of energy in the world is algae—macro-algae that are fermented to produce biofuel.

In the Korean city of Busan, a “biomass town” has been established over a long belt stretching from Gijang to the waters near the Oryukdo Islands. (Kelp from Busan has been renowned since the 19th century for its quality and yields.) Surisol Underwater Lab, which manages an integrated process involving seaweed farming, water quality, ocean currents, and biomass, is also located in the area of the Oryukdo Islands.

Sohila, a former humanitarian status holder who left Yemen escaping the Yemen War, is a senior researcher at the lab. She has just returned to the lab after taking an early month-long vacation for Ramadan. She hears a good news and a bad news from Surisol, and sends Turbo Shell(the remotely operated vehicle) to conduct reconnaissance in the waters in question. Viewing the images sent by the ROV, Sohila shares its point-of-view as it is imperiled during its journey when it encounters a large swarm of squid and turbulent currents. Suddenly, she blacks out. This segues into a flashback, as she recalls what happened to Korea, and to her, during the COVID-19 pandemic that swept over the world in 2020.

* The character Sohila was played by Sohila AlBna’a, an actual Yemeni migrant living in Korea.

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