All That Burnt All That Glow

All That Burnt All That Glow (2025) is a poetic video essay by Youngsook Choi, which is primarily composed of video documentation of Youngsook’s site-specific performance of the same title. Commissioned by the Busan Biennale 2024 and Brent Biennial 2025, All That Burnt All That Glow commemorates ecological loss by organising a healing ritual for the Brent Reservoir. The reservoir was originally built to supply water to the Grand Union Canal when it served as a vital route to transport coal mined in Northern England to the South and the capital. Now surrounded by green paths, the reservoir is home to sailing communities. Sailing, as a means of water navigation, is intimately entangled with colonial expeditions and conquests. The diverse cultural heritage of the Brent population emanated from this history. All That Burnt All That Glow excavates these histories and legacies by engaging sailors in a water-bound performance on the trembling, swelling, and scarred hydroscape of the Brent Reservoir. In the performance we see and hear the pain of geological wounds and labouring bodies, mourning voices calling for remembrance and healing, and smoke bombs that serve as a warning of our current climate emergency. Curated by Annie Jael Kwan, All That Burnt All That Glow was performed with sailors from the Wembley Sailing Club in coordination with Tom Dalrymple. The musical performers are Ayse Roza, who performs a traditional Kurdish mourning ritual, and Darius Hulme, a somatic healer who uses vocal resonance.