Website link: https://www.jayneedham.net/worksanditerations
SoundCloud link: https://soundcloud.com/jay-needham-1/listening-at-the-border
Jay is a media artist whose work is center around the idea of borders. He has interviewed an American logist and spy that has spent time listening intently to the conversations, coded commands, and air-traffic of the Korean Army above the Korean peninsula.
He took a 63-week training course for this impeccable journey he was about to embark on. He primary job was to monitor the North Korean military communications; but with his training to learn a different language all day, 8 hrs. a day, 5 days a week was intense (as some my say).
What I wasn’t prepared too much for was the hardest part of my training: listening.
Jay needham
He mentioned that listening to the dialect of codes on how they are said, the syllable on which the natives improvise to make known of, and the difference between the North and South Korean natives. It really is a tiring activity because…
Hearing is such a passive activity. Listening requires so much more engagement on your part.
Jay needham
He never thought he would be a spy. He wondered if he could be like or have a glamorous life like James Bond. But that wasn’t the case. While listening in at the border of North Korea and picking up things from them every day; the South Koreans were watching them and his team closely. He said ” Secrets are a scarred thing and shall not be broken. Once you are in the circle of secrets and in the know (as he says); it’s a weird feeling. When you walk around knowing things that no else does; you hold your head a little higher. You feel like Bond in a way.
Leaving the type of culture of listening, there was some transitions that had to be made. He came out of his time in the military with a certain set of skills and experiences that in the civilian world meant nothing; so it was really hard for him to get a job.
Along the way, his present days experiences creates a full circle effect for him.
Military to civilian. Solider to artist. Listener to Do-er.
Transistion out of military time as spy- Jay needham
He has been invited to speak and present his work at many notable programs including the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, California Institute of the Arts, and the School of the Art Institute, Chicago. He serves on the Board at Carbondale Community Arts.
He is currently a Professor in the Department of Radio, Television, and Digital Media at Southern Illinois University. He received his MFA from The School of Art at California Institute of the Arts.
Hope you enjoyed! Don’t forget to like, comment, and follow for more!
All the love,
Cheyenne
Break The Comfort Box! 