Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
New dimensions in media art
.jpg?w=728)
Jesper Just’s “This Nameless Spectacle” (2011) will be on display at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul through Aug. 3. / Courtesy of MMCA
By Kwon Mee-yoo
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Since its opening last year, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Seoul (MMCA Seoul) has been aggressive in media art exhibitions, perhaps in an eagerness to tout its high-tech display spaces.
Among the museum’s latest items are the works of Danish artist Jesper Just, whose portrayal of female desire is delicate and explosive, strange and beautiful.
In his works submitted for the "This is a Landscape of Desire’’ exhibition, Just constantly makes an effort to get viewers engaged in his creations.
"The Nameless Spectacle’’ has viewers stand between two screens ― one showing a disabled woman in a wheel chair and the other showing a man who seems to be pursuing the woman. The idea is to make viewers imagine as if they are caught between the two, which according to Just makes the audiovisual experience feel more ``physical.’’
"This is a Landscape of Desire,’’ the namesake piece of the exhibit, creates uneasiness with its towering, vertical screen which shows a woman wandering in the wilderness and another woman caressing a concrete pillar.
Just always stresses the "narrative’’ that penetrates through his works and the museum has prepared "media boxes’’’ where visitors can watch each of the artist’s works from start to finish.
Another notable exhibition at MMCA Seoul is "Infinite Challenge,’’ featuring the works of seven female artists from Asia who specialize in video, photography, installation and performing art.
Nalini Malani’s “Mother India: Transactions in the Construction of Pain” (2005)
For the outdoor installation, "Listen to the Emptiness,’’ Korean artist Kim Soun-gi placed microphones at different places in the museum’s outdoor garden with the aim of creating echoes and hollowing.
"There is no pre-recorded sound here. Everything you hear is the noise of this place and I just amplified it. These are sounds that convey the distinctiveness of this place,’’ Kim said.
Indian artist Nalini Malani's video piece is about women overcoming traumatic experience. The artist lends her own voice to express sadness, despair and describe the social pressures facing women in different societies.
Indonesian artist Tintin Wulia deals with contemporariness with her work "The Butterfly Generator." Inspired by the butterfly effect, visitors can operate a machine at MMCA Seoul, but it does not make any changes right in front of them, but make differences at the MMCA's branch in Gwacheon.
Just's exhibit runs through Aug. 3, while the Infinite Challenge runs through July 13. Admission is 4,000 won for all exhibitions at MMCA Seoul. For more information, visit www.mmca.go.kr or call (02) 3701-9500.