Sara Sejin Chang’s (Sara van der Heide) artistic practice is dedicated to spiritual evocation, historical research, decentering Eurocentrism, and unraveling colonial narratives to create works that act as historical repair and healing.

 

The film installation Dismemberment consists of a 45-minute film, artworks and ritual objects displayed in vitrines, paper masks and prayers on the walls, and watercolor paintings. The scenography begins as the audience enters the first room—an exhibition space with white walls—which challenges the white gaze and the conventions of Western ethnographic display. The same objects on display in the exhibition play multiple roles: they are shamanic ritual items, and they also reappear in the film as props, shown in the adjacent room.

 

In Dismemberment (2024), a political and shamanistic allegory unfolds. A gallerist named Europa—embodying Enlightenment ideals—undergoes a “dismemberment gut,” a ritual inspired by the traditional Korean healing practice Ssitgim-gut.* The gallerist, a colonial and patriarchal figure, is portrayed by actress Susanne Sachsse in an all-female cast. Through this character, the colonial condition of Europe is examined, intertwining ritual objects and artworks to challenge the colonial narratives that separate art from spiritual practice.

 

The installation invites viewers into a space where film and objects reflect on the deep entanglements of colonialism within Western systems of categorization and racialization. It also reflects on the historical experiences of Asian women, their mothers, and grandmothers in Europe—acknowledging the cycles of violence they have endured and calling for transformation. Through visions and song-making, Chang–van der Heide reimagines the gallery as a site of ancestral convergence—rooted in the present and honoring the spiritual world from which the “European Enlightenment project” severed ties.

 

The exhibition space is divided into two parts. Connected to the black cinema space is a white gallery room resembling the art gallery in which the film was shot. Here, the same artworks seen in the film are exhibited—functioning both as props and as ritual objects. The installation and film follow a strict color scheme—black, white, yellow, and red—that recurs in the costumes, rooms, and artworks.

Four paintings hang on the wall dividing the space: two vibrant landscapes titled Garden: Vision of the Sacred Hilltop 1 and 2, and two black-and-white works titled Europa and The Women Governors.

In one vitrine, a large mudang fan—used during the Ssitgim-gut—is displayed. A series of masks and phallic objects extend into both the white exhibition room and the dark (film) room, appearing on the walls and in corners.

 

Korean paper prayers hang on strings, carrying blessings for Europe, who is sick and is in need of healing.

Also in the space is a bowl containing ashes, entitled The Ashes of the Patriarchy. In the darkened cinema room, approximately fifteen tree stumps serve as seating. It is only while watching the film that one realizes what they are sitting on: chopped-up phallic sculptures.

 

 

*During the ssitimgut ritual one is taken apart by the gods, and that which no longer serves the person – whether that be greed, arrogance, abusiveness or sickness, for example – will be removed leading to one's rebirth, assembled anew.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Installation views Dismemberment Sara Sejin Chang (Sara van der Heide) at Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam. Photography Johannes Schwartz

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Credits

Filminstallation, directing, camera, editing, text, voice, costume, set design, artworks, sound and production: Sara Sejin Chang (Sara van der Heide)

CAST: 
GALLERIST EUROPA
    Susanne Sachsse
ARTIST/MUDANG        
DAESIN HALMEONI - GREAT SPIRIT GRANDMOTHER
SANSIN - MOUNTAIN GOD
    Sara Sejin Chang (Sara van der Heide)

OPERA SINGER
Jinok Kim-Eicken
VOICE OVER, PERCUSSION & SINGER     
Bo-Sung Kim    

GREAT GRANDMOTHER ANCESTORS / EXTRAS
Valentina Wong
Agentur Connection Berlin:
Séverine Bouyssou
Jayara Mithila Dampahalage
Eri Dürr
Phelora Felim
Dain Jeon
Minh Chi La
Sarah Rehaiem
Jongbin Park
Huang Ziwei

CREW

PRODUCTION:
Dagmara Konsek
Daniela Höller
Stephan Urban

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
& EDITING

Coco Magnusson (Berlin)

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Gyeol Koo (Korea)
Jane Hwang (Berlin)

CAMERA
Silke Briel
Ethan Folk
Irina Jasnowski
Kyungman Kim

PRODUCTION SOUND MIXER
Lena Marcus
Frank Friedemann

COLOUR GRADING
Gregor Pfüller

STYLING, HAIR & MAKE-UP
Christian Fritzenwanker


ASSISTANT HAIR & MAKE UP EXTRAS
Rebecca Naylor

PRODUCTION
PHALLIC OBJECTS
Thomas Swinkels

COSTUME
Claudia Hill
Kahori Furukawa
Monika Smikalla

PRODUCTION
PHALLIC OBJECTS
Thomas Swinkels

SONG
SISTERS, MOTHERS, GRANDMOTHERS" (2024)
TEXT
Sara Sejin Chang (Sara van der Heide)
COMPOSITION
Jinok Kim-Eicken

SONGS - JINDO SSITGIM GUT
"KIL DAGGEUM"
"SHINNORAE"
SINGER & PERCUSSION
Bo-Sung Kim


RESEARCH ASSISTANCE KOREA
TRANSLATION
Mijoo Park
Soyoon Ryhu

TRANSLATION
Susanne Sachsse
J. Ekenhorst


THIS FILM WAS MADE POSSIBLE WITH THE SUPPORT OF
Mondriaan Fund
Fellowship 2022-2023
Berliner Programm Künstlerische Forschung
Kunstinstituut Melly

THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT
LOCATION GALLERY
Berliner Programm Künstlerische Forschung
Rike Frank and J. Ekenhorst
LOCATION FIRE
Künstlerhof Frohnau
Kaya Behkalam
VITRINES
Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
JEWELERY
Townes, Berlin

THANK YOU TO MY TEACHERS
Kim Hye Kyoung
Kim Keum Hwa (1931-2019)
mudang Jenn
Roel Crabbé