Photography Explores Space in Flash Cube
By Seo Dong-shin
Staff Reporter
``Bermuda, Bahama … I wanna catch a glimpse,'' sing the Beach Boys in their ever so airy-cheery voices and melodies. With this as background music, photographs of Korea _ from those during the Korean War to the South's democratic uprising and the North's Kim Il-sung statues _ flip through on the video screen, like a music video. Artist Yoon Jeong-mee created the work ``Korea at the NYPL'' (New York Public Library) in which the catchy American pop song ironically contrasts with images of Korea edited by and appearing in American media.
The work is one of 59 pieces from 21 international artists on display at the exhibition ``Flash Cube,'' which starts today at Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul. The exhibition, which follows the successful Andy Warhol retrospective at the museum, was organized to provide an overview of the procedures and consequences of contemporary photography's efforts to be perceived as an artistic medium of its own.
Taking place inside the ``Black Box'' building, which was designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, the exhibition fittingly presents works of diverse interpretations on its theme, space. Henk Slager, the Dutch guest curator for the exhibition, set it up in three categories, each focusing on different photographic strategies _ ``generating fluid inner spaces,'' ``interrupting urban spaces,'' and ``evolving in installative spaces.''
What stands out is that a number of artists featured are those schooled in the Dusseldorf Academy under the German photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher, and they engage viewers primarily with their static aesthetics. People are absent in the photographs of Candida Hoefer, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Ruff and Lee Yoon-jean. If there is any tension or atmosphere in their photographs, they are created by the space itself or lifeless objects.
There are other photographic works that seem to pose more direct questions and deliver social messages, as in Mieke Van de Voort's untitled slides in the ``Fluid Inner Space'' section. They document the places left behind after people who lived in them died in complete loneliness, before they are cleaned by community services.
``I'm interested in the way space is organized in society, and how this influences the idea one has of oneself,'' the artist said.
Aglaia Konrad presents black and white images of contemporary cityscapes fixed on wooden panels. The images are ``research about urban transition and development using photography,'' the artist said. Finnish artist Jan Kaila, meanwhile, tries to create the ``unexpected dynamic'' out of the combination of ``something purely aesthetic'' and ``transparent images that deliver information'' in his work titled ``What, Where, When.'' The work consists of about 350 books on the floor, which come out every year in Finland recording what happened around the world that year _ and 82 photographs on the wall, mostly press photographs about catastrophes worldwide.
The exhibition runs until Sept. 30. A guide service in English is available on weekends, and a free music concert takes place Thursdays. Tickets for the exhibition cost 7,000 won for adults, 4,000 won for students. A ``Day Pass'' that additionally allows access to Leeum's permanent collections cost 13,000 won and 8,000 won, respectively. For more information, visit www.leeum.org.