People

Jung Hee Choi is an artist and musician who has presented a series of environmental compositions that explore the concept of Ahata Anahata, Manifest Unmanifest (2007– ), a series of environmental compositions with light, evolving light-point patterns, drawing, incense, performance, and sound. Her work has been presented in the United States, Europe, and Asia including FRAC Franche-Comté, France; Berliner Festspiele, Bundeskunsthalle, Germany; Galerie l’elac, Lausanne, Switzerland; Galleria Spazioersetti, Italy; The Korea Society, Dia Art Foundation, Guggenheim Museum and MELA Foundation Dream Houses, NYC; FRESH Festival, Bangkok; Korea Experimental Arts Festival. Commissioned by MELA Foundation, her video sound performance and installation, RICE, was chosen as one of The 10 Best of 2003 in the December Artforum. In 1999, Choi became a disciple of La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela in the study of music and art, with the classical Kirana tradition gandha bandh red-thread ceremony on March 28, 2003. In 2002, she co-founded, with Young and Zazeela, The Just Alap Raga Ensemble and, in 2009, The Sundara Trio. Choi has performed as a vocalist in every concert, including those at Dream House at the MELA Foundation, New York; the Yoko Ono Courage Award ceremony (2009); the Third Mind Live concert series at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2009); the Merce Cunningham Memorial Celebration (2009); and the five-concert Pandit Pran Nath Memorial Tribute Tour in Berlin, Karlsruhe, and Polling, Germany (2012); Dia Art Foundation (2015). Choi’s electroacoustic and modal improvisation ensemble, The Sundara All Star Band, premiered in 2015. The members include Young, Zazeela, Choi, Jon Catler, Hansford Rowe and Naren Budhkar. The New York Times featured Choi’s Tonecycle for Blues performed by her Sundara All Star Band as one of The Best Classical Music Performances of 2017. Choi has directed the presentation of Young and Zazeela’s installations and performances at various events, including the Big Ears Festival (2024), the Chicago Humanities Festival (2023), the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen (2022); Centre Pompidou-Metz (2018), France; Kunstmuseum Stuttgart (2018); and the L.A. Philharmonic centennial celebration (2018). Since 2009, Choi’s long-term multimedia installations have been presented both solo and simultaneously with Young and Zazeela’s sound and light in the MELA Dream House, creating a continuous collaborative environment. Choi graduated with a B.A. summa cum laude and received an M.A. in art and sound from New York University. Since 2008 Choi has taught raga at the Kirana Center for Indian Classical Music, New York.