Coolness in courtesy of Luxembourg
Kara Walker’s “Darkytown Rebellion” (2001)
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Sylvie Blocher’s “A More Perfect Day” (2009)
Luxembourg is a tiny nation but has considerable weight in the world of modern art. Recent works by the country’s most talented artists are currently on display at the Artsonje Center in Seoul, where visitors are showered with a dose of youth and experimentalism.
The “A More Perfect Day: Collection of Mudam Luxembourg” features some 360 works kept at Mudam Luxembourg, an institution for contemporary art established in 2006.
The exhibition at Artsonje was planned after it was suggested by the Luxembourg embassy, which is becoming more active in promoting cultural exchanges between the two countries.
Kim Sun-jung, director of Artsonje, said that a significant amount of communication was invested for the display, with her and Mudam director Enrico Lunghi flying back and forth between the countries numerous times to select the works.
“Many of these artists are relatively unknown in Korea, but as these are young talented people, exposure is precisely the point of doing an exhibition like this,” Kim said.
Michael Ashkin’s “Untitled” (2008) / Courtesy of Artsonje
The exhibition at Artsonje features 30 of 360 artworks kept at Mudam, picked under the theme of “utopia,” referring to the people’s desire for an ideal place and life.
The title of the exhibition came from the name of a video art piece by French artist Sylvie Blocher. In the video, a half-tanned performer sings a song based on U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech from his election campaign. The singer is interpreted as a transcendental figure, encompassing different characters and dimensions, and in permanent search for a better future.
Also notable is a neon-sign piece done by Su-Mei Tse, an artist who represented Luxembourg at the 2003 Venice Biennale, installed at the entrance of the display hall. This is complemented by her video, “L’echo,” which conveys Tse’s philosophies about sound in the portrayal of a woman playing cello in the middle of a big mountainous region.
Michael Ashin’s “Untitled” is similar to a bird-eye’s view of an urban sprawl. The cardboard pieces reflect the artist’s thoughts on how a city evolves in its own way, developing a landscape and ecosystem that weren’t originally intended. “The House,” a video work by Eija-Liisa Ahtila that is shown on three different screens, describes a woman sidelined from society who is in a desperate search for communication.
Kara Walker’s “Darkytown Rebellion” looks like a whimsical shadow play with paper silhouettes and colorful lighting, but actually it describes a dark chapter of U.S. history — African-American slaves in antebellum American South. Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison’s dreamy photographs portray the quintessential characteristics of men in the industrial age. Bulgarian artist Nedko Solakov’s installation “The Truth (The Earth is Plane, The World is Flat)” questions whether the Earth is really round.
Obliquely shaped bookshelves on the first floor lounge are also part of the exhibition. These are part of Tobias Putrih’s ”Mudam’s Studio Design,” representing the diversity of Mudam’s collection which ranges from painting and sculpture to design and fashion.
In the corner are a video installation and drawings of characters from a Disney animation “Jungle Book” by French artist Pierre Bismuth. He assigned 19 different languages to characters of the animation, which raises questions about the perception and comprehension of languages.
Artsonje and Mudam said this event is not a one-off and that they are going to collaborate on more projects. Korean artist Lee Bul will hold an exhibit at Mudam and the two art institutions seek further exchange in education or personnel.
The exhibit runs through June 23. Admission is 5,000 won. For more information, visit www.artsonje.org or call (02) 733-8945.