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The
50th international Exhibition
Curatorial
Statement for The Korean Pavilion of the
50th Venice Biennale
Date
of Exhibition: 2003 June 14 ~ November 2
Place
of Exhibition: Giardini Garden
Sponsorship
of Korean Pavilion: The Korean Culture and
Arts Foundation
Korean
Commissioner : Kim Hong-hee / 82-17-363-0396(m)
/ ggkimhh@yahoo.co.kr
Assistant
: Jeon Jeong-ok / 82-19-216-0961(m)
/ ssamsiespace@yahoo.co.kr
5-129
Changjeon-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea 121-190
82-2-3142-1693~4(t)
82-2-338-4237(f)
Draft
of the Curatorial Statement for the Korean
Pavilion of the 50th Venice Biennale
Submitted
by Kim, Hong Hee, Commissioner
Title:
Landscape of Differences
Artists:
Whang, In Kie , Bahc Yiso , Jeong, Seo Young
“Landscape
of Differences”
1.
Objectives and Summary
This
year’s Korean Pavilion will focus upon
producing a unique vision of the Korean.
Transcending the notion of the exhibition
as a forum for individual expression or
as simply another kind of solo show, this
exhibition to be held at the Korean Pavilion
will explore the difference and the specificity
of the Pavilion itself.
Through
an investigation of contemporary Koreanness
as it is manifested through the “here
and now” of Korea, the Pavilion will attempt
to concurrently provide grounding for Korea’s
international competitiveness as well as
for the kind of singularity exclusive to
Korea. Predicated upon the reinterpretation
of tradition, postcolonial consciousness
and the expansion of aesthetics, this year’s
Pavilion will be able to avoid both the
dangers of borderlessness which ignores
the very real division of national borders
along with the peripheralizing exoticization
of Korea itself.
On
an initial level, the Pavilion will attempt
to distinguish itself from other national
pavilions through the location of specificity
present in its actual physical site. Factors
to be taken into consideration include the
architectural structure of the Pavilion,
the surrounding environment, and the general
specifics relating to that site. In
realizing the theme of the exhibition, the
particular architectural characteristics
of the Pavilion will be taken into account,
such as the glass walls and cylindrical
configuration of the building and the Pavilion
building’s relationship to the immediate
natural surroundings. Likewise, the
exhibition will seek to establish a venue
where harmony exists between nature and
art, and among both works of art and architecture.
This
exhibition is intended to be a collaborative
effort between the curator and the selected
artists and its theme will be developed
through a process of mutual dialogue. By
using an approach in which the curator will
ask the artists a question in the form of
a social issue or problem, this exhibition
hopes to demonstrate a new kind of cooperative
format that more incisively unpacks the
criticality of art as well as promote timely
discourse.
2.
Artist Selection
The
world’s oldest international exhibition
is the Venice Biennale, yet it is nevertheless
organized through a system of national pavilions.
Participating nations, whether amenable
or not, become subsequently complicit with
cultural hegemony. It is perhaps because
of this organization and its ramifications
that Western nations like the United States,
choose well-known, highly established artists
such as Louise Bourgeois, Hans Haacke, and
Nam June Paik as representatives.
This
year’s Korean Pavilion is based on the
work of mid-career artists in their forties
and fifties rather than younger artists
in their thirties. Just as the waist
area must be strong in order to support
an entire body, I contend that in order
to facilitate the development of Korean
art world both outside and within Korea,
there must be more weight given to those
mid-career artists that will have the most
crucial and immediate effect on the long-term
development of Korean art, rather than younger,
“new generation” artists or already well-established
older artists. It is important, of
course, not to choose artists simply because
they have the requisite years of experience.
The selected artists must be savvy
in their work in order to navigate the treacherous
divide between internationalism and regionalism.
Departing
from the usual format of a two-person exhibition,
this year’s show will feature three artists,
two who will present their work indoors
(Whang Inkie and Jeong Seo Young), and one
whose work will be shown outdoors (Bahc
Yiso). Based on the kind of works
already produced, the featured artists will
create new, site-specific works The
reason for this tripartite show is to avoid
the kind of oppositional and unproductive
competition that two-person shows inevitably
face in which one person is always given
more attention than the other to the extent
that the more celebrated artist appears
as the “champion,” or the victor over
the other. Rather, the strategy of
this year’s show will be to overcome this
kind of power struggle by exploring not
only the aesthetics of difference, but also
their synthesis.
3.
Introducing the Notion of a “Landscape
of Differences”
The
core concept behind this year’s Pavilion
is “Landscape of Differences.” It is intended
to relate to the Biennale’s overall theme
of “Dreams and Conflicts” while at the
same time evoking some of the singularities
of Korean art and of the Korean Pavilion.
Francesco
Bonami, the general director of this year’s
Biennale, sets out for the entire Biennale
project the task of having to confront the
internationalism-versus-regionalism dichotomy
through the overall theme. In my view,
the theme refers to the necessity of unpacking
a more global vision through the synthesis
of international artists, and “dreams and
conflicts” connote the clashes and conflicts
that will arise in the pursuit of this synthesis.
From this perspective, Bonami’s
theme reflects the kinds of contemporary
artistic, historical and social approaches
produced by contemporary visual art and
confirms that the issues of tomorrow will
be resolved through the dreams and conflicts
of today.
The
theme, “Landscape of Differences” metaphorically
interprets the Biennale theme in which the
landscape represents dreams while differences
connote conflict. Here, when difference
and contradiction is seen through a Derridean
concept of difference, the conflict and
contradiction that is produced through differences
can be said to result in a hypothetical
narrative whereby an imaginary, abstract
landscape is born. Thus, “Landscape
of Differences” is deconstructive landscape
comprised by a chain of signs and the difference
between those signs that deny and rupture
meaning. What is important here
is not the deconstruction itself, but what
comes after it, that is, the new landscape
that emerges from the deconstruction process.
This landscape goes beyond the binaries
of East/West, tradition/identity, or international/regional
and instead aims at a more productive discussion
via the merging of differences between nature
and art, art and its environment, plus the
difference between the artists, along with
the difference between the works.
Subsequently,
the vision behind “Landscape of Differences”
takes difference as one axis in the Pavilion’s
goal to distinguish Korean singularities
from other national pavilions, but also
as an experiment in securing a more competitive,
and more internationally viable identity
through those singularities.
4.
Content and Presentation
The
theme of the exhibition will be premised
upon the Pavilion’s surroundings and the
Pavilion building. Grounded in such
site-specificity, the exhibition will be
a spatial maneuver whereby the waters of
Venice, visible through the transparent
walls of the Pavilion, will be drawn inside
as a means of creating dialogue between
the “inside” and the “outside” on a
literal and theoretical level.
The
front and back of the Korean Pavilion building
is comprised of a transparent glass wall.
The
entire building, including the restroom
area, has many different exhibition spaces
that are shaped in ways including, but other
than the usual white cube format, including
spaces that are circular and corrugated.
Because of this unusual structure,
the Pavilion was not perceived as an appropriate
space for an exhibition since its original
construction in 1995. To overcome
these unfavorable characteristics, previous
exhibitions have remodeled the space or
applied coating onto the glass wall.
The
presentation of this exhibition, however,
will actively incorporate these less-than-optimal
architectural characteristics as a point
of departure. The view of the outside
as seen through the glass wall will be brought
into the exhibition space and the transparency
of the exhibition space will be emphasized
by the concurrent focus on natural light.
In addition, the use of the circular,
or elliptical wall space which has previously
been unused (“dead” spaces), will not
only increase the total surface area for
the exhibition but also enhance overall
presentation. Again, the emphasis of these
architectural singularities highlight the
uniqueness of the Pavilion is emphasized
in comparison with other national pavilions
whose spaces are primary square, or cube-shaped.
Although
the Pavilion is situated in a prime location
in proximity to the national pavilions of
other major countries such as France, England,
Germany, Russia, and Japan, it is at some
distance away from the central thoroughfare.
Accordingly, there is a need to draw
in viewers and for this reason, there will
be an outdoor component to the exhibition
as well as within the Pavilion building.
5.
Cooperation and Roles of the Three
Selected Artists
An
encompassing image of the Korean Pavilion
will be created through a cooperative process
in which the individuality and unique qualities
of each of the three artists will be underscored,
but at the same time, merged together.
The
main space of the Pavilion building located
directly across from the entrance, with
its high ceilings and square form, will
be dramatically left empty while the side
spaces will be used. On the corrugated
wall space on the right, Whang In Kie’s
assemblage wall reliefs will be installed,
while Jeong Seo Yeong’s riddle-like, clandestine
objects will be displayed in the left-hand
space that is divided into two spaces that
are respectively circular and quadrilateral
in form. In contrast to Hwang’s poetic
wall pieces, Jeong’s works are difficult
to find, meticulously embedded into the
wall as if they were buried treasure. Jeong’s
works reject the notion of the external,
or the outside, but at the same time, react
to both it and Hwang’s works in an unusual
way.
The
Pavilion’s tower and outdoor space will
be the domain of Bahc Yiso. Not merely
an object placed outside, the work will
be a site-specific installation that will
take into account the boundary between the
Pavilion site and the space beyond it according
to a spatial and geographical reading of
that boundary. In order to link the
outside and inside spaces, Bahc’s modest
objects will be placed in the otherwise
empty main central space or other, “third”
space.
All
three artists and their respective characteristics
will be connected through their manipulation
of conceptual art. The historical
reinterpretation of Whang, the political
message of Bahc which problematizes the
identity of the “third world,” and the
aesthetic metaphors of Jeong that both expand
and condense formal language will create
unexpected harmony. The artists,
through the difference of the works and
the different spaces of the Pavilion grounds
and building, as well as the difference
of the outdoor environment of nature, forms
a spectrum that results in the “Landscape
of Differences.”
Instead
of producing spectacles of a mainstream
persuasion, the works of Whang In Kie, Bahc
Yiso and Jeong Seo Young make possible a
transition towards a more conceptual, non-materialistic
and process-oriented vista. Although
there is the concern that the works may
be seen as anti-populist, or hard to read,
when a work has no fixed meaning, it could
actually provide a refreshing change of
pace. Moreover, the fact that viewers
must engage in conceptual labor by reading
and finding meaning on their own raises
the level of their participation and the
works operate as “cool media.” Hence
this returns authority, even authority of
a dictatorial nature, to the viewer which
in turn has much in common with “Viewer’s
Spectatorship,” the subtext of the Biennale’s
overall theme.
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