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Korea Herald
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Jun So-jung, who explores divide between Koreas, looks at 'time of land'
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Artist Jun So-jung had arrived in Abu Dhabi late the previous night from Antwerp, Belgium, her flight delayed by Israel's attack on Iran earlier that day. She was in Antwerp for the opening of a group exhibition at M HKA, Museum of Contemporary Art Belgium where her video work 'Syncope' (2023) is being shown. In Abu Dhabi, she participated in a public program held as part of 'Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits,' a Seoul Museum of Art and Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation joint exhibition at Manarat Al Saadiyat. The exhibition, part of this year's Abu Dhabi Festival, came to an end June 30. Traveling is part and parcel of being an artist today. Artists often travel to find new inspiration; they also travel the globe, showing their work. Jun, whose works are in the permanent collection of leading art galleries and institutions around the world -- including the Han Nefkens Foundation; the Uli Sigg Collection; MMCA, Korea; SeMA; and Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art -- is often on the road, working on a project and attending exhibitions. 'I was curious in what context my work would be received, how an audience in a place with a very different historical context would respond to my work, especially given that my work is about North and South Korea,' Jun said in an interview with The Korea Herald on June 14, right after a panel discussion entitled 'Society as Medium — Objects as Anchors: Material, Narrative and Memory.' "'Early Arrival of Future' was made 10 years ago and it is also being shown at SeMA as part of an exhibition marking the 80th anniversary of liberation. It is sad. The work is being shown repeatedly like this because we remain divided,' she said, adding that she harbors complex feelings about this state of affairs. 'Early Arrival of Future' (2015) is a video work featuring two pianists — North Korean defector Kim Cheol-woong and South Korean Uhm Eun-kyung — performing a piece the two composed. The title of the song, 'Sinabeuro,' meaning 'unknowingly, little by little,' reflects the process by which the new music was written through dialogue between the artists, each selecting a popular song from their country as a starting point. Jun's other video works shown in Abu Dhabi likewise center on the state of the divided Korean Peninsula. 'Eclipse' (2020) shows North Korean-style gayageum and harp performed by a Korean Japanese and a South Korean, respectively, while 'Green Screen' (2021) shows the lush greenery of the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas. 'It ('Early Arrival of Future') has a simple structure, but passing of time adds to its depth,' Jun said, explaining something different is created when seen in a different setting, at a different time. Observing how the moderator of the panel discussion had added her story to 'Early Arrival of Future,' Jun said, 'It was very interesting how, rather than viewing the work just as an exploration of an issue between the two Koreas, she added her own narrative in discussing the work,' she said. 'If I were to make it now, I would not make it so simple, but there is power that such simplicity lends,' Jun said. The work might look simple, but making the video was a complex project. There were 12 stationary cameras surrounding the two artists, who were each playing on a grand piano facing the other. The setup could be used to show the relationship between the two Koreas and how inter-Korean issues or stories are read and dealt with within the geopolitical context, the artist thought. Even more complex was how the two musicians came up with the new composition. A good three to four months went into composing 'Sinabeuro,' involving extensive dialogue. Photographs showing excerpts of their conversations and music scores are on display at the SeMA exhibition 'Prelude: With a Heart Singing Stars,' running through Oct. 26. The conversations between the North Korean defector pianist, who had studied in Russia, and the South Korean pianist, who had studied in Germany, reveal their different backgrounds. 'For example, the North Korean pianist says, 'These are things that must be observed in North Korea, but you keep trying to override them.' The process of creating the music is quite interesting,' she said. Each had decided on a piece that was well known in their respective country — 'Yonggang Ginari,' a lively and joyous work from the North, and 'Eommaya Nunaya,' a plaintive lyrical song from the South. Both pieces share the pentatonic scale that imbues them with a particular mood. But that was where the similarities ended, and the musicians, over time, despite their differences, succeeded in creating a coherent new piece, giving Jun the answer she sought to the question, 'Could ideological conflict be overcome through art?' The video does not identify who is from the North or the South. 'When it was shown, many in the audience thought the woman was from the North. It reflects South Koreans' prejudiced image of North Koreans or North Korean defectors. They said the woman looked very sad, that she looked like she had a lot of stories and that she was very expressive,' Jun said. The opposite is true, however. 'The man was an elite, a graduate of a Pyongyang university. He had had a luxurious lifestyle,' said Jun. "For me, the audience's reaction was very interesting." 'Green Space' was shown in Piccadilly Circus in London in August 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The idea was to turn a very urban, highly commercial scenery into a green one. Jun began shooting in the civilian-controlled zone south of the DMZ in May 2021 and continued into July. It was 'very, very green,' she recalled. 'The vivid scent of the greenery struck my nose.' On screen, the untouched nature of the DMZ looks serene, but the reality is starkly different. 'It is very harsh there,' she said. There are frequent wildfires, many landmine explosions and wildlife are sometimes injured or killed by barbed wire fences, according to an environmental nongovernmental organization she consulted for the project. 'Eclipse' is a two-channel video work that explores the interaction of South Korea and North Korea through a Korean Japanese playing a North Korean gayageum and a South Korean harpist. The story of how gayageum player Park Soon-ah came to play the 21-string North Korean instrument has everything to do with contemporary history. The musician's grandparents had immigrated to Japan before the division of the Korean Peninsula. '(Following the division) North Korea provided a lot of assistance to these Joseonin, including traditional instruments,' Jun explained. Having grown up listening to cassette tapes of gayageum music from the North, Park went to North Korea to learn gayageum. There, she came to realize that she would have to go to South Korea to learn to play the authentic gayageum. In South Korea, the original 12-string gayageum is used, whereas North Korea created the 21-string version in the 1970s so that Western music could be performed, driven by Soviet influence. The music the two artists perform is rooted in the story of modern Korea. It is a newly composed piece inspired by the late Yun I-sang's 'Double Concerto,' written in 1977, which likens the division of the Korean Peninsula to two star-crossed lovers. Another motif of the new composition was Yun's use of Asian music elements in performing Western instruments. 'The idea was to use these motives to create a type of harmony or different rhythm with these two instruments,' Jun said. While all three video works shown in Abu Dhabi revolve around the two Koreas, Jun's greater interest lies in modernity. Jun recently went on a research trip to Almaty in Kazakhstan. 'I visit Europe frequently but I realized that I really don't know about the land in between,' she said. 'Some call it Eurasia. Historically, the Silk Road was here; astrologers journeyed the path as did travelers and pilgrims. I had an idea that it would be good to look at time through this land,' she said. 'Looking at the time of the land means dealing with history. And through that, we can look at the present anew,' Jun said. That initial thought led to yet another idea — to explore the history of migration of Goryoin, ethnic Koreans living in Central Asia. 'There is a very archaeological aspect to this current project,' said Jun, after explaining how her works are conducted with an 'anthropologist's attitude' and involve a lot of on-site research and interviews. The project she is working on lies somewhere between 'being archeological and being science fiction-esque,' she said. It would be a video work and something performative. Asked if she might be featured in the video playing the accordion — she is a member of a band, Black Night, composed of fellow artists — she dismissed the idea with a laugh. 'No, I won't be in it. It will feature local musicians.' khooran@
Korea Herald
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
'Opening doors of conversation, culture to culture'
Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo talks about the Abu Dhabi Festival, international cooperation and joint exhibitions with SeMA ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates -- Barely two years after a visit to Korea by one of Abu Dhabi's key cultural figures, internationally acclaimed Korean pianist Lim Yunchan performed to a packed concert hall in Abu Dhabi, the Korean National University of Arts Orchestra performed with young Emirati musicians in Abu Dhabi, and an exhibition of contemporary Korean art co-curated by the Seoul Museum of Art and the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation opened at the prestigious Manarat Al Saadiyat cultural complex. All this and more was set in motion by Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo, founder of ADMAF and founder and artistic director of the Abu Dhabi Festival, during her whirlwind visit to Seoul in May 2023, where she met with leading figures in Korea's cultural scene. Her timing was prescient. The World Health Organization had declared the end of the COVID-19 pandemic earlier that month and the world was slowly coming out of long isolation, ready to engage with each other. 'We went on a journey together, we dreamed together, we shared our vision together. We are on a mission to bring our cultures together, open doors of conversation, culture to culture, conversation to conversation,' said Alkhamis-Kanoo during an interview with The Korea Herald at her residence on June 13. 'But I don't own this conversation. You don't own this conversation. We open it,' she said. 'For me, the beauty of this conversation is that it started with a vision, it became a reality. Now, we are building a legacy. The legacy is moving forward together for a greater future,' she said. International cooperation is a key component of the Abu Dhabi Festival, and when it comes to international cooperation, the most important thing is relevance, Alkhamis-Kanoo pointed out. 'Relevance not only for us, but more importantly for our society, for our artists, our audiences and the relevance of the conversation that such international cooperation enables,' she continued. 'What is important to us is that every single international cooperation we engage in challenges, refines and expands our perspectives,' she said. Held as part of Abu Dhabi Festival 2025, 'Layered Medium: We are in Open Circuits,' which comes to a close Monday, is an example of such international cooperation. Featuring 48 works by 29 artists, the first large-scale exhibition of Korean contemporary art in the Middle East is also the first of two co-curated and co-produced exhibitions developed through a three-year collaboration between SeMA and ADMAF. Education is also a very important part of the Abu Dhabi Festival, especially given that the UAE is a relatively young country, formally established in 1971. 'We are a young nation but we come from a very old soul. This old soul with the energy of the young is the future. (Education) will always be a major element of the festival,' said Alkhamis-Kanoo, pointing out the educational function of the festival. She cited the example of the Korean National University of Arts Orchestra's open rehearsal, which was attended by public school children. 'Opening up to government schools is very important. Public schools all over the world are almost the underprivileged when it comes to liberal arts in all its forms, music included. We need to work more. Music creates empathy and happiness, joy. You know, that's the basis for the future,' she said. Meanwhile, the second co-curated and co-produced exhibition, 'Intense Proximities,' will run at SeMA from Dec. 16 to Feb. 22, 2026, bringing three generations of UAE-based artists from the 1980s to today. The partnership between SeMA and ADMAF also includes co-commissioned artworks, artist residencies, institutional exchanges and public programs in Seoul and Abu Dhabi. 'We see Korea not just as a partner but as a creative counterpart and even as something of a twin because we both have very rooted cultures and are very innovative. 'I don't think we have a finish line. We are building a process. I'd say our timeline is generational but the impact is already here,' Alkhamis-Kanoo said.
Korea Herald
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Abu Dhabi hosts first joint exhibition of Korean art with SeMA
'Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits' introduces modern and contemporary Korean art to UAE with narrative that resonates across cultures ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Seeing familiar artwork presented in a novel manner, in a different context and a different environment, might be what is needed to awaken one to new possibilities and stimulate new thinking. 'Layered Medium: We Are in Open Ciruits,' an exhibition of modern and contemporary Korean art running at Manarat Al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi, UAE, through June 30, succeeds in doing just that. The exhibition, co-organized by Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA) and Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Foundation and presented as part of Abu Dhabi Festival 2025, is a thoughtfully curated show of works by some of the best-known modern and contemporary Korean artists today, flown nearly 7,000 kilometers and assembled in a new way. The exhibition's co-curators, SeMa curator Yeo Kyung-hwan and UK-based curator Maya El Khalil, have created a narrative that is both fresh and thought-provoking. The Abu Dhabi exhibition is inspired by the SeMA exhibition 'At the End of the World Split Endlessly,' curated by Yeo, which revisited modern and contemporary Korean works in the city museum's collection last year. For "Layered Medium," the co-curators added several works that were not in the Seoul exhibition with the aim of easing visitors into Korea's modern and contemporary art. The new arrangement of the works and the scenography by Formafantasma, a Milan- and Rotterdam-based design studio, enrich the exhibition experience for those newly introduced to the works and perhaps even more so for those already familiar with them. The exhibition, whose title borrows from a statement by video art pioneer Paik Nam-june, opens with the artist's 'Self-Portrait Dharma Wheel' (1998) and an archive table showing how artistic innovations of the 1960s and 1970s occurred alongside Korea's economic and political developments, and how Korea's growing connection to a wider world shapes artistic practice today. Also shown in this first section, 'Open(ing) Circuits,' is Paik's 'Moon is the Oldest TV' (1965-1976) that links looking at the moon, an ancient practice, to contemporary screen-watching. Works by Kim Ku-lim, one of the first Korean artists to utilize electricity and light in challenging artistic conventions, are another important addition to the exhibition, giving a fuller account of the development of modern and contemporary art of Korea. A piece notable for the absence of the body, 'Method of Drawing' by Lee Kun-young, marks the start of the next section, 'Body as Medium.' The body is used as the medium, the paintings display the movements, and the negative space created results in an unintended figurative image, the artist said of the series begun in 1976. Lee Bul's 2006 work, 'Untitled (Crystal Figure),' gets a space of its own where 'feminine' materials such as crystals sparkle as they outline a female form, questioning how female bodies have been represented and understood. The question of how contexts influence cultural translation is the subject of 'Society as Medium' section. 'Under the Sky of Happiness' (2013) by Hong Young-in draws many young women visitors, according to a docent, who discover several historical women figures for the first time. Depicting Korean women hailed for being the 'first woman' in their respective fields, the work brings to the fore the marginalized history of women through embroidery, a practice that is often associated with low-wage labor. Background knowledge of the work — it reimagines a 1974 film about Korean laborers stranded in Sakhalin after World War II, replacing the male protagonists with female pioneers — is not necessary to appreciate the modern history of women in Korea. Three video works by Jun So-jung — 'Early Arrival of Future' (2015), 'Eclipse' (2020) and 'Green Screen' (2021) — explore the state of division of the Korean Peninsula. 'Early Arrival of Future' depicts two pianists, one a North Korean defector and the other a South Korean, as they collaborate in performing popular works from the two countries divided by the Demilitarized Zone. 'Eclipse,' meanwhile, juxtaposes the North Korean version of the ancient 12-string Korean instrument gayageum and the harp, an ancient Western instrument. The 21-string North Korean gayageum was created so that it may be used to perform Western music. The irony of the primordial forests of the Demilitarized Zone, the most heavily fortified border in the world, will not be lost on those watching "Green Screen.' An installation that may not be easily understood by non-Korean audiences is Bahc Yi-so's 'The UN Tower' (1997). An addition to the Abu Dhabi exhibition, the installation reconstructs the pedestal of a nonexistent monument — an image familiar to the Korean audience who have seen it on matchboxes once ubiquitous in Korean homes. 'We included this work because it articulates the impossibility of true cultural translation,' El Khalil says in the curatorial statement. While some works may be impossible to translate across different cultural contexts, on display in the last section "Space as Medium," Yang Hae-gue's 'Yes-I=Know-Screen' (2007), a set of 10 wood screens with wooden lattices that challenges boundaries between artworks, inside and outside, has resonated with the audiences here. Visitors often comment on the similarities between the lattice patterns and patterns found in Islamic art, said ADMAF Executive Director Michel Gemayel. The experience of attempting to extract similarities in the unfamiliar is a universal one. The exhibition ends on a positive note for cross-cultural translation and comprehension. The last work in the exhibition, 'Dancing Ladders' (2022) by Kwon Byung-jun, has visitors linger in front of the slow-moving inverted robotic ladders. The feeling of being stuck in the arduous condition the work depicts and elicits in viewers is a sentiment easily shared by people everywhere living in today's hyperconnected, globalized world.
Korea Herald
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Seoul Mediacity Biennale to embrace the mystical in media art
The 13th Seoul Mediacity Biennale, scheduled to kick off on Aug. 26, will bring together 49 artists and collectives under the theme of 'Seance: Technology of Spirit." The term 'seance,' derived from French, refers to an attempt to communicate with spirits. The 13th edition of the biennale, running through Nov. 23 at the Seoul Museum of Art, or SeMA, will be led by Anton Vidokle, artist and founder of e-flux; Hallie Ayres, art historian and curator; and Lukas Brasiskis, curator of video and film at e-flux. The biennale will explore the influence of mystical and spiritual experience on the development of modern and contemporary art. 'It's very significant that many artists have in recent years gravitated towards ways of understanding the world that might offer an alternative to the prevailing systems, which seem at present to be in crisis,' said the curators. Starting with the artistic practice of British artist Georgiana Houghton (1814-1884), who achieved her first mediumistic drawings after attending her first seance in 1859, the exhibition will encompass the influence of shamanism on video art founder Paik Nam-june and German Fluxus artist Joseph Beuys, as well as transcendental experiences depicted in the early experimental films of American artists Maya Deren and Jordan Belson. The biennale will also feature works by contemporary artists engaged with the diverse traditions and themes of the occult, enchantment and magic. The Seoul Mediacity Biennale, launched in 2000 by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, has earned international recognition for its experimental engagement with contemporaneous changes within the media landscape of the city, redefining what media is and can be.
Korea Herald
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Six decades of Korean contemporary art unfold in UAE's largest showcase
'Layered Medium: We Are in Open Circuits' runs through June 30 at Manarat Al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi The history and evolution of Korea's contemporary art scene is now on view in the United Arab Emirates through the most extensive presentation to date in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. Titled 'Layered Medium: We Are In Open Circuits,' the exhibition opened Friday at Manarat Al Saadiyat in Abu Dhabi, featuring 48 works by 29 Korean artists and spanning the 1960s to the present. All works are part of the Seoul Museum of Art's collection, and the exhibition was co-curated by UK-based independent curator Maya El Khalil and Yeo Kyung-hwan of SeMA. 'Works from the Seoul Museum of Art's collection that may have carried specific cultural resonance in Seoul could become more abstract or universal here, while other dimensions of this location surface new meanings,' said El Khalil. 'This transfer is not a loss but a transformation, where different depths of connection become possible.' Visitors will encounter works by pioneering experimental artists Park Hyun-ki and Lee Kun-yong; internationally acclaimed multimedia artists Kim Ayoung and Jun So-jung; and leading interdisciplinary figures such as Lee Bul and Haegue Yang. The exhibition traces key moments in Korea's contemporary art history, beginning with the radical experimentation of the 1960s and 1970s, when artists began working with video, photography and performance. Highlights include Paik Nam-june's 'Self-Portrait Dharma Wheel,' Park Hyun-ki's 'TV Fishbowl' and 'Video Inclining Water.' Also featured are works that examine the body and sensory perception as tools for understanding the world, including Lee Kun-yong's 'The Method of Drawing: Body Drawing 76-2' and Oh Min's 'Etude for Etude (Music Performance).' Organized as part of a three-year institutional partnership between SeMA and the Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation, the exhibition underscores six decades of Korea's media art history while fostering cultural dialogue with the UAE. 'This historic exhibition showcases the evolution of Korea's media art scene over six decades, as well as its interaction with the artistic landscape of the UAE,' said Huda Alkhamis-Kanoo, founder of ADMAF. 'Under the joint curation of SeMA's Kyung-hwan Yeo and Maya El Khalil, it also highlights the pioneering figures whose innovation and creativity have helped define what contemporary art is today.' An accompanying publication, "Layered Dialogues," will include essays by UAE-based writers, further contextualizing the exhibition through a local lens. 'Layered Medium: We Are In Open Circuits' runs through June 30 in Abu Dhabi. A second co-curated exhibition, 'Intense Proximities,' will follow in December at the SeMA, showcasing three generations of UAE-based artists from the 1980s to the present. In addition to the exhibitions, the SeMA–ADMAF collaboration includes co-commissioned artworks, artist residencies, performances and film screenings in both Abu Dhabi and Seoul.
