This spring semester, I had the opportunity to hold two solo exhibitions. In this Reflective Note, I would like to talk about these exhibitions.
#Latte Pappa
The Latte Pappa exhibition, held at Akademirommet in March, is part of an ongoing project titled "From Homosa-fish-ence to Homosa-clima-ence." I prefer to connect multiple individual works around one large project in a mind map format. This project started after I came across the book by scientist Neil Shuman, who claimed that people with small holes in their ears evolved from fish. I, too, have a small hole in my left ear, which made me particularly interested in this work.
Since childhood, I had very poor vision and couldn't live without glasses or contact lenses. Without glasses, the world appeared blurry and undefined due to my high myopia and astigmatism. This experience constantly made me ponder the distinctions between reality and illusion, clarity and blurriness. These thoughts made my body feel strange and awkward. 'Why am I human? Why do we call ourselves human? Why are humans born this way? Why does my body look like this? What did the first human look like? What will the last human look like?' Growing up with these questions, it was perhaps no coincidence that I was captivated by the idea that I might have originated from fish.
When people talk about evolution, they often discuss the past as if we are the final humans. However, we are just a part of an endless evolutionary process, existing through numerous errors and repetitions. I believe that through the process of evolution, we must recognize our existence in this infinite loop of past, present, and future. “For if we accept that life is never composed of closed systems, then all aspects of life will be in a condition of ever-renewing difference and change. Organisms live only by responding to other changing systems, such as the environment and other organisms. Similarly, acts of thought, such as philosophy and literature, are also active responses to life. (Colebrook, 2002, p.4)”
We live in an era of climate change, and while I personally do not deny climate change, I believe humanity will evolve in some way to survive beyond this era. So, how will we evolve? Through this work, I wanted to explore humanity from fish to post-climate change. Evolution can be an infinite process of repetition. However, “Repetition is not the re-occurrence of the same old thing over and over again; to repeat something is to begin again, to renew, to question, and to refuse remaining the same. (Colebrook, 2002, p.8).”
The goal of the Latte Pappa exhibition was to constantly question and make us aware of our existence. As Deleuze said, "Art has to do with creating new experiences. (Colebrook, 2002, p.7)" Through this exhibition, I hoped that visitors would have new experiences. For example, in the exhibition space, visitors exist as an object. They become both visitors and one of the Latte Pappas. I wanted them to experience being part of the exhibition while observing it. To achieve this, I placed various Latte Pappa installations. Visitors sit with Latte Pappa and watch performance videos, becoming part of the exhibition.
I believe artists should connect the invisible and the real world through their art, view the world in a strange way, and constantly question and ponder our existence. “Neither art nor philosophy are about representing a world that is already there, they are about making connections or becoming ‘desiring machines’. (Colebrook, 2002, p.62)” As Deleuze said, I believe artists should become 'desiring machines' connecting worlds through their work. I hope these aspects were well-expressed in this exhibition.
#Order Your Dream Girl
The exhibition "Order Your Dream Girl" held at Seilduken in April is part of my master's project called "Catalogue Girl."
"Catalogue Girl" raises questions about the challenges and identity faced by Asian women who have immigrated to Norway.
In this exhibition, I aimed to made a pop-up office and utilize Artificial Intelligence images to evoke an uncanny feeling, while incorporating "Asian" elements to explore how Asian culture is translated and embraced in Europe. I wanted to investigate the differences between exhibition space and public space through this opportunity, as I plan to install a fake pop-up agency office in a public space later on.
The purpose of this exhibition is to bring socially taboo topics to the public's attention and encourage people to confront and contemplate subjects considered taboo. However, there was much hesitation in starting this work because I anticipated reactions like "this is important" or "we need to talk about this" rather than it being evaluated as artwork. This was one of the situations I least desired as an artist. After moved to Europe, I realized that some non-white artists perceive their work not as artwork but as "talkers" or representatives of diversity. This realization was further reinforced at the Venice Biennale, where various artists with different nationalities and backgrounds presented their works under the theme "Foreigners Everywhere." However, it seems that this year's Biennale just invited them rather than curating them. Especially, the works of artists of color were limited to reproducing or arranging traditional patterns from their countries, failing to present a discourse and vision for the future through their works. Another point to consider is that most of the people organizing and deciding this exhibition are still Westerners. In this Biennale, they have not yet moved beyond the Western perspective in viewing the works of non-Westerners (i.e., folk art).
"But it had also been a somewhat awkward arrangement framed by the Western aesthetic canon in which artefacts from the Global South appeared side by side with European and American art. (Möntmann, 2023, p.27)"
"Artefacts from the colonised countries, by contrast, were installed in dedicated separate divisions of the museums, which assigned them to a place frozen in time and disconnected from the evolution of civilisation. The ethnicising presentation of these objects underscored their use value in spiritual as well as everyday practices. In the context of the imperialist narrative, this framed them as folk art, in contrast with the autonomous masterwork that was designed to highlight the civilisational achievement of Western art. (Möntmann, 2023, p.23)"
Because this is a structural issue, I do not blame the curator for it. I want to talk about this structure.
Do non-white artists have to make unique folk art representing their countries to be invited to the Biennale? If their nationality is erased, what is their identity and aesthetics as artists? Do the works of non-white artists exist to contribute to the diversity of museums? Emphasizing diversity for decolonization, and continuously marginalizing non-white artists only by invitation, is this true decolonization?
For a somewhat strange reason, I decided to move to Norway. When I became curious about art, I watched several Nordic films at a film festival. Korean films and dramas often had intense and powerful content, but unlike them, Nordic films... It's not that they were boring, but they gave me the feeling that nothing happened in the films. The fact that a movie could end without scenes of someone being killed, betrayed, or fighting intrigued me, so I decided to study art in Norway.
I wasn't interested in living outside Korea, so I didn't speak English and Norwegian. I applied to school through Google Translate, and luckily, I overcame the language barrier to obtain a bachelor's degree and am now continuing my master's program. Sometimes people ask me about cultural differences through my experience, but to be honest, I haven't felt significant cultural differences. Fashion brands like H&M or ZARA are available to purchase in both Korea and Norway, and the same goes for McDonald's, Netflix, and Spotify.
So I don't think there is much difference between life in Norway and life in Korea. I want to emphasize my identity as a person transcending nationality and race rather than my unique identity as a Korean. However, sometimes people seem to expect something "exotic" from me.
I sometimes feel a tendency in the West to confine non-white artists into boxes labeled "folk art" or "exotic." However, I believe the role of an artist is to surpass those boundaries and move forward. I still think that if an artist addressed these issues through their artwork, it could still be critiqued as artwork because I cannot understand the passive attitude of Western artists or critics who fear becoming racist when critiquing the work of non-white artists addressing race and colonialism. I consider this attitude an extension of racism and colonialism. These thoughts were further reinforced at the Venice Biennale, and I am currently working on writing a manifesto about this.
What I declare is as follows: (this is just an idea text not finalized)
1) Race is not my identity as a artist
2) I’m making art work as a artist
3) I’m not making my art work to contribute your diversity
4) Curate me Critique me please
5) Did you curate or did you just invited?
I want to raise doubts about whether our (artists of color) works were simply "invited" or truly "curated."
Through these contemplations and explorations, I am planning to delve deeper into my work in the coming autumn semester.
List of References:
-Colebrook, Claire. (2002). ‘Gilles Deleuze’. London: Routledge.
-Möntmann, Nina. (2023). ‘Decentering the museum’. Lund: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd.
-60th Venice Biennale. ‘Foreigners everywhere’. Venice.