platform_as_a_curatorial_research_lab_for_independent_curators
Video still, Washing Brain and Corn, 2010, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of Artist
Video still, Washing Brain and Corn, 2010, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of Artist
Video still, Washing Brain and Corn, 2010, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of Artist
Video still, Washing Brain and Corn, 2010, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of Artist
Video still, Washing Brain and Corn, 2010, Dimensions variable, Courtesy of Artist
In “Corpse-Washing” (Leichen-Wäsche) Rilke gives and image of two women washing a dead body. They tell stories of a man they did not know. I am inspired by this imagery of a dead body that still generates a story. It led me to think of imagery of brain-washing or literally washing the brain.
In South Korea, in grade school in the 80s, there were two important yearly comepetitions that been instrumental to honing children’s speech. One is ungbyeon, or public speech geared mostly toward boys, and then there was the guyeondonghwa, bodily gestural speech and vocal storytelling in one form, which was more popular with girls. Both these emphasized loud vocal projection, clearly enunciated words, and exaggerated gesture. In the 80s, both forms were used to enourage youngsters to tell stories of propaganda against North Korea and communism in general. I chose one of the most popular subjects used in these speech acts, a story from 1968 of a South Korean boy whose mouth was said to be ripped open by North Korean spies for having exposed his antagonism toward communism. The boy’s famous sentence sounds as follows: nan kong san tang ee sil eu yo. The account of this incident is one of the first nonfictional stories involving graphic violence that children were allowed to hear and discuss in the 80s. Although it has the status of almost being folklore to several generations, the story did not quite survive its political context.
I worked with my niece, who is a second-generation Korean-American. She is separated from this story by an era, continent, culture, and language. I was interested in the irrelevance that a story could have in another time. There are the roles of mothers, boys and girls, students, adulthood, wisdom, in the chosen story that interest me as much as common motifs of horror of disembodiment, death, and hunger. For this reason, I Juxtaposed the published facts with other imagery and stories taken from different literature.
Sung Hwan Kim uses film and video, drawing, architecture, and historical and marginal literature as well as his own writing, which often become a part of installation, performance, radio play, or book. Using cinematic language, Kim's work incorporates intimate views of the spatial patterns in architecture and psychological traces of the relationship in it. Kim has most recently exhibited his work at Asia Art Center, Gwangju, Korea (2021); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea (2019); the 57th Venice Biennale Arte (2017); and Berwick Film and Media Arts Festival, Berwick, UK (2017). His works have been shown in international biennales and film festivals, such as the Gwangju Biennale, Performa, Manifesta, Berlin Biennale, Rotterdam International Film Festival, and Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin. He was a fellow at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten (2004/2005) and a recipient of Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD (2015). His publications include Talk or Sing (distributed by ArtSonje); Ki-da Rilke (distributed by Sternberg Press); and When Things Are Done Again (distributed by Tranzitdisplay).
David Michael DiGregorio is a composer and musician based in New York, who writes music for film and video, solo concert, and performance works in chamber-style settings and for the larger stage. His background includes extensive work on classical and improvised technique on the piano, work with various vocal techniques, performance with a gospel choir, electro-acoustic composition, and experimental pop construction. He has collaborated since 2006 with Sung Hwan Kim, initially through development of the in the room series. Highlighted work in musical collaboration with Kim: music for the Venice-Biennale-commissioned film Love before Bond, 2017; composition and performance in the operatic experiment 피나는 노력으로 한 [A Woman Whose Head Came Out Before Her Name] (2015), commissioned for the Asian-Arts-Theatre inaugural festival, Gwangju; music for the Tate-Modern-commissioned 2012 film Temper Clay. This collaboration has also manifested in the recording of various music albums including one from in the room (2010) (Bayerischer-Rundfunk-2 broadcast commission and Intermedium Records); and In Korean Wilds and Villages, 2009, produced by Andi Toma (Sonig Records). DiGregorio also has collaborated with artist Jewyo Rhii, choreographer Martín Lanz Landázuri, musician Byungjun Kwon, singer Elizabeth Jane Dudley Baker, and has arranged original music for Ari Benjamin Meyers’ Kunsthalle for Music Ensemble (Witte de With, Rotterdam, 2018); and has performed solo concerts at Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan; Ilmin Museum, Seoul; New Museum, New York; Insa Art Space, Seoul; De Nieuwe Kraakgeluiden and STEIM, Amsterdam.
