NOTE FOR AHN(安), GALLERY 175, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA, 2019
Exhibition Note for AHN (安) was a two-person exhibition I organized with Ahn Jaeyoung, which began from the question of whether an individual could escape from being possessed — one of the mysterious symptoms containing elements of superstition from Korea. The exhibition, tracks how images attained from one’s superstitious beliefs relate to mythical and religious images, then recombines and deconstructs them. Under our collaboration lies the hope to contact invisible but clearly existing sensual phenomena, and to together overcome anxieties, interpreting phenomena as the destiny of artist/mediator.
Paying attention to the number of tattoos on Ahn Jaeyoung‘s body (the Chinese character 安, a blue diamond, an arrow, a red-haired Anne, Piglet, Mickey Mouse, and an epitaph of Nikos Kazantzakis), I interpreted each image as a charm to ward off Ahn’s anxieties. I then, researched mythical and religious imagery in order to strengthen the shamanistic narrative. Observing that the number 12 frequently works as important motive in the myths of many different cultures, I set Ahn Jaeyoung‘s birthday, December 12, as a central axis and tried to discover the references to god-related signs from the number 12. Combining the symbolic world of the image, language, color, and numbers from ancient myths from twelve animals that guards tombs, I created a chart for a system of faith and proposed a psychological space for a praying man, just like the secret connotation of the ancient character, 安
NOTE FOR AHN(安), GALLERY 175, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA, 2019
Exhibition Note for AHN (安) was a two-person exhibition I organized with Ahn Jaeyoung, which began from the question of whether an individual could escape from being possessed — one of the mysterious symptoms containing elements of superstition from Korea. The exhibition, tracks how images attained from one’s superstitious beliefs relate to mythical and religious images, then recombines and deconstructs them. Under our collaboration lies the hope to contact invisible but clearly existing sensual phenomena, and to together overcome anxieties, interpreting phenomena as the destiny of artist/mediator.
Paying attention to the number of tattoos on Ahn Jaeyoung‘s body (the Chinese character 安, a blue diamond, an arrow, a red-haired Anne, Piglet, Mickey Mouse, and an epitaph of Nikos Kazantzakis), I interpreted each image as a charm to ward off Ahn’s anxieties. I then, researched mythical and religious imagery in order to strengthen the shamanistic narrative. Observing that the number 12 frequently works as important motive in the myths of many different cultures, I set Ahn Jaeyoung‘s birthday, December 12, as a central axis and tried to discover the references to god-related signs from the number 12. Combining the symbolic world of the image, language, color, and numbers from ancient myths from twelve animals that guards tombs, I created a chart for a system of faith and proposed a psychological space for a praying man, just like the secret connotation of the ancient character, 安
Installation view of Jan van eyck academie openstudios 2021 Still cut, The geometry of the hunter, Single channel video, 2021
Smart Skin Farm
Zero1ne Day 01 Habitat, S-Factory, Seoul, Korea 2023
We don’t spare a thought for where the meat and skin of animals come from or how they were processed before we put them to use. We don’t question the processes by which non-human bodies become resources. How, then, should we think about the processing of our personal information into capital? There are certainly parallels to be drawn between how we handle the bodies of animals without asking for consent, and how online platforms collect and sell user information without disclosing its uses.
<Smart Skin Farm> depicts these unequal and exploitative capitalist exchanges. At this artificial skin store and factory, teas reflecting personal information are fermented to generate microbes. Microbes, then, are grown into skin and processed into leather. This exchange of leather and personal information demonstrates how the human body can become the subject of collection and exchange, invoking the sacrifice of non-human bodies that have transformed into meat and leather. Smart Skin Farm also emphasizes that there is no equitable exchange in relationships with non-humans, reflecting on the ambivalent position in which humans who have constantly exploited nature within the global environment are subject to exploitation within the structure of the capitalist system.
사진제공. ZERO1NE
다공성 물질전환 IV : 재생
이퀼리브리엄, 팔복예술공장, 전주, 한국 2023
〈다공성 물질전환〉 프로젝트는 식물성 재료인 차와 당을 결합하여 고유의 성질에 따라 증식하는 발효물질을 실험한다. 형태가 없는 액체상태에서 온도와 습도, 공기의 변화에 영향을 주고받으며 자라는 식물성 미생물은 수많은 빈 구멍에서 피어나, 구멍을 다시 채우고 빠져나오기를 반복하여 평평한 형태의 자신의 물질을 만든다. 밀폐된 상태의 배양수조 안에서 증식하는 미생물은 인간의 몸 내부에서도 존재하고, 근본적으로 그들은 같은 생존방식을 취한다. 말린 식물을 우려낸 물과 당이 미생물의 양분이 되는 것처럼, 인간의 몸은 그들에게 먹이가 된다. 지구의 포식자인 인간이 미생물의 먹이가 된다는 사실은 인간의 몸이 그들과 구별되지 않는 물질이라는 점에서 위안을 준다.
사진제공. 팔복예술공장