Dreaming of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha: An Appreciation

City Lights in conjunction with Asian American Writers’ Workshop and University of California Press present a tribute to the life and work of Theresa Hak Kyung Cha. Moderated by Linda Norton with appearances by Brandon Shimoda, Min Sun Jeon, and Christina Yang celebrating the publication of two new books from University of California Press: "Dictee" and "Exilee and Temps Morts: Selected Works." This event was originally broadcast via Zoom and hosted by Peter Maravelis. You can purchase copies of "Dictee" directly from City Lights here: https://citylights.com/general-fiction/dictee-2/ And "Exilee and Temps Morts: Selected Works" here:https://citylights.com/general-poetry/exilee-temps-morts-sel-works/ Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951–1982) was a poet, filmmaker, and artist who earned her BA and MA in comparative literature and her BA and MFA in art from the University of California, Berkeley. During her brief yet brilliant career, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha explored a variety of media, including handmade books, video, film, sculpture, performance, and sound. Her work is distinctive for its somber, unforgettable beauty, its innovative treatment of texts and images, and its ongoing, rigorous exploration of the phenomena of physical, cultural, and linguistic displacement. One element linking much of her work is an abiding concern with film and film theory. Cha’s aesthetic influences are to be found much less among contemporary artists than among the works of filmmakers such as Chris Marker, Yasujiro Ozu, Jean-Luc Goddard, Marguerite Duras, Michael Snow, and above all, Carl Th. Dreyer. She was especially influenced by their innovative treatments of narrative and their concern for problems of memory, communication, and consciousness. Cha was also influenced by her studies of French film theory, particularly the scholarship of Christian Metz, Jean-Louis Baudry, Thierry Kuntzel, and Bertrand Augst. From these theorists, Cha developed an awareness of the artwork as an extended “apparatus,” the meaning of which was inscribed between its psychological origin in the artist, its material and temporal existence, and its destination in the viewer’s consciousness. While Cha developed her response to these ideas particularly in her live performances, they can be seen to have considerably influenced her work in other media as well. Cha, who died tragically in New York City in 1982, received her MFA from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978, and was an employee of the University Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (Special thanks to BAMPFA for the use of this biography). The Asian American Writers’ Workshop (AAWW) is a national literary nonprofit dedicated to publishing and incubating work by Asian and Asian diasporic writers, poets, and artists. Since their founding in 1991, they have provided a countercultural literary arts space at the intersection of migration, race, and social justice. Find out more at aaww.org. To learn more about the speakers in this tribute, visit: https://citylights.com/events/dreaming-of-theresa-hak-kyung-cha-an-appreciation/ And if you would like to see any of the visuals shared during this event, you can check out the video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBZ_-hEqC3c This event was made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation: citylights.com/foundation