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
''사라지는 세계는 어디로 이동하는가, 나는 어째서 그들처럼 사라지지 않는가.
살아있다는 것은 비참한 일이다. 사라짐과 삶의 경계에 아슬아슬하게 서서 말을 걸어오던 사람의 눈동자를 나는 잊을 수 없다. 그 후로 오랫동안 초점없이 흔들리던 눈동자는 조금도 잦아들지 않고 더욱더 격렬하게 나를 따라다니며 무의식의 세계를 침범하여 들어와 쉬지않고 ‘너를 안다’고 말한다. 반복되는 가수면 상태의 환영은 현실세계에서의 감각들을 거침없이 날조하고, 불안을 조장하며, 겁에 질린 상태로 이끈다.''
이름을 붙이는 행위는 오직 인간만이 할 수 있는 특권이며, 우리가 마주한 세계에서 관계를 맺는 중요한 방식 중 하나이다. 동물에게 이름을 붙이는 인간은 동물보다 우위에 있는걸까? 로드킬로 인한 동물의 죽음을 목격하고, 죽음과 마주한 동물의 눈을 마주했던 경험으로부터 동물의 죽음과 나의 관계, 그리고 죽음의 위계에 대하여 질문해 보고자 했다. 전시장소였던 명산여관의 구조는 좁고 긴 복도와 여섯개의 방, 여덟평 정도의 외부공간으로 구성되어 있다.이러한 건축적 구조와 전기가 없는 환경은 죽은 동물의 상태를 경험하는 장소로 제시되었다. 관람자는 여관입구의 첫번째 방에서 손전등을 대여하여 어두운 복도와 방에 설치된 비문을 관람하게 된다. 손전등은 로드킬의 기록을 비추는 빛이자 자동차의 헤드라이트를 은유하는 장치로 사용되었다. 곳곳에 배치된 성경 구절을 통해 인간이 동물을 어떻게 이름 붙이고 묘사했는지 추적해 보았고, 공중위에 떠있는 동물 탈을 전시장 출구에 배치하여 관람자에게 동물이 되어보는 행위를 제안하였다.
SOMEBODY Vs SOMETHING, MYOUNGSAN INN, JEONJU CITY, SOUTH KOREA, 2017
“Where is the disappearing world going, and why have I not disappeared like them? Being alive is a misery. I cannot forget the pupils of the people who have spoken while standing precariously at the boundary of disappearance and life. After that, the pupils which had wandered aimlessly for such a long time, rather than fade away, follow me even more intensely, invading my unconscious world and telling me, without rest, ‘I know you’. An apparition of a repeating state of trance inexorably concocts sensations of the real world, aggravate anxiety, ushering me into a state of petrification.”
Naming is a human privilege, as well as an important method in the formation of relationships to the world. Is a man, who can name animals, more superior than animals themselves? Inspired by the experience of witnessing roadkill and facing the eyes of the animal right before its death, I tried to question the relation between the animal’s death, myself, and the perceived hierarchies of death.
The exhibition space, Myungsan Inn, has a long and narrow hallway along six rooms and an outside space of about 26.5m². This architectural structure and environment without electricity form the space to experience the state of a dead animal. Visitors borrow flashlights from the inn’s first room and then view the dark hallway and epitaphs in rooms. The flashlights illuminate documentation of roadkill, and also serve as a metaphor for the car’s headlight. Through Bible verses installed all over, the work traces how men named and described animals. Animal masks are hung in the air and placed by the exit in order to suggest to viewers, to “become animal.”
