서울문화재단 - 문화예술공간 서울무용센터

⟨It's time⟩

2026.06.13.(토) 19:00

서울무용창작센터

흔히 시간은 과거에서 미래로, 한 방향으로만 흐른다고 믿는다. 하지만 현대 물리학은 이 견고한 믿음에 균열을 낸다. 블록우주론은 과거-현재-미래가 이미 동시에 존재하며 시간의 흐름이란 우리가 경험하는 방식일 뿐이라고 본다. 시간출현론은 한 발 더 나아간다. 세계를 더 깊이 들여다보면 시간이라는 것은 애초에 존재하지 않으며, 양자들의 상태와 관계, 상호작용의 변화가 연속적으로 이어지는 체인을 우리가 시간의 흐름으로 인식할 뿐이라는 것이다. 두 이론은 서로 다른 방향에서 같은 곳을 가리킨다. 우리가 ‘흐른다’고 느끼는 시간은 세계의 실재가 아닐 수 있다는 것.

곽유하가 시간이라는 주제를 붙드는 데에는 개인적인 이유가 있다. 제한된 시간 안에서 끊임없이 무언가를 해내야 한다는 압박, 결과로만 증명되는 삶의 논리에 대한 저항감 속에서 그는 그 틀을 오히려 깊이 이해함으로써 다른 방식의 반항을 시도한다. 물리학 안에서 뜻밖의 근거를 발견한 것도 그 연장선에 있다. ‘흘러가는 시간’이라는 당연한 감각이 사실은 당연하지 않을 수 있다.

곽유하는 이 질문을 혼자 간직하지 않는다. 사람들이 보편적으로 연결될 수 있는 것은 지식이라는 믿음 아래, 그는 물리학의 언어를 무대 위로 가져온다. ⟨It's time⟩은 렉처 퍼포먼스다. 두 이론을 설명하는 언어 위로 춤과 음악과 영상이 겹친다. 곽유하는 과학의 언어를 해독하고, 그것을 무용과 음악으로 번역해 무대 위에 올린다.

안무·작·작곡 곽유하

출연 곽유하, 임정하

영상 임정은 LIMVERT

⟨It's time⟩

13 June 2026 (Sat), 7PM

Seoul Dance Creation Center

We commonly believe that time flows in one direction only, from past to future. But modern physics fractures this solid conviction. The block universe theory holds that past, present, and future already exist simultaneously, and that the flow of time is merely the way we experience it. The theory of emergent time goes a step further: look deeper into the world and time does not exist in the first place — what we perceive as the flow of time is only a continuous chain of changes in the states, relations, and interactions of quanta. The two theories point from different directions toward the same place: the time we feel "flowing" may not be the reality of the world.

There is a personal reason Kwak holds onto the subject of time. Amid the pressure to ceaselessly accomplish something within a limited span of time, and a resistance to the idea that a life can be validated only by results, she attempts a different kind of rebellion — by understanding that frame all the more deeply. Finding unexpected support for this in physics is an extension of that effort. The self-evident sensation of "time passing" may, in fact, not be self-evident at all.

Kwak does not keep this question to herself. Holding to a belief that knowledge is what can connect people universally, she brings the language of physics onto the stage. ⟨It's time⟩ is a lecture performance. Dance, music, and video are layered over an explanation of the two theories. Kwak decodes the language of science and, translating it into dance and music, brings it onto the stage.

Choreographer·Writer·Composer Kwak You-ha 

Performer Kwak You-ha, Lim Jung-ha

Videographer LIMVERT

Kwak You-ha

Kwak You-ha's work begins in the gaps between languages. Having grown up moving across several cultures as a child, she learned in her body that communication arises from knowing the everyday rules and codes particular to a given society. That experience led to a sense for decoding an unfamiliar language and carrying it back into her own. This process, which Kwak calls "translation," is the foundation of how she works today.

The trajectory of her work is also a process of expanding media. Studying acting as an undergraduate, she learned the power of speech; training in contemporary dance for her master's, she acquired the language of the body. Together with her musical experience as a band guitarist, these backgrounds allow her to work by choosing the medium best suited to each situation to construct her message.

Kwak currently takes "science" as the principal material of her work. Science is at once a precise language for explaining the world and a language easily closed off to many. She is pursuing a "decoding project" that crosses this gap through art, and her current subject is time. Reconstructing the language of science into the languages of body, sound, and image, this work is an attempt to translate difficult concepts into sensory experience. ⟨Decoding 1: Dark Energy⟩ (Gangdong Arts Center, Small Theater, 2022) was a Spark Place selection at the 2022 International Modern Dance Festival (MODAFE), and ⟨Decoding 2: Brainstorming⟩(ARKO Arts Theater, Small Theater, 2025) was presented after four years of researching brain science. For both works she took on choreography, composition, and performance herself.