This presentation explores communication through the metaphor of diffraction, drawing on the image of water disturbed by waves. Unlike reflection, which implies stability and clarity, diffraction highlights how movement bends, scatters, and creates unexpected patterns. I use this image to think about language and sound not as fixed channels, but as shifting fields where meaning is broken apart and re-formed. My current project, IYKYK, experiments with multisensory communication by combining sound, text, image, and synaesthetic responses. Through short video and audio fragments, I will show how interference, resonance, and disruption can become creative forces rather than obstacles. The aim is to invite participants to consider communication as something that does not simply transmit messages, but constantly transforms them, leaving traces much like ripples on water. By focusing on the instability and fluidity of language, this work opens space for new ways of listening and relating, especially in moments when clarity is impossible.

Authors:
Garam Hong, Royal College of Art, United Kingdom

About the Presenter(s)
Garam is a PhD researcher in Communication of RCA, makes digital media works that expose how temporal capital — the time needed for cultural legibility — is unevenly distributed on short-form platforms, from a Korean diasporic position.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Tuesday Schedule

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