doArt Seoul Reopens With Alliance
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
Newly reopened doART Seoul gathered exciting works by 26 artists from all over the world for its first group exhibition ``The Alliance.''
Curated by Kim Seung-duk and Franck Gautherot, the exhibition features a diverse array of paintings, installation pieces, sculptures and videos by artists such as Rachel Feinstein, Gloria Friedmann, Bertrand Lavier, Miltos Manetas, Hiraki Sawa, Catharina van Eetvelde and Howie B.
In a meeting with reporters last week, Kim explained that ``alliance'' meant a temporary gathering of artists and their works, sitting comfortably together in a single space.
The exhibit originally shown in doART Beijing in April, has organized the different artworks so they interact with each other. In Seoul, the artworks were distributed to three galleries, doART Seoul, Gallery Hyundai and Do Ga Hun, all within walking distance of each other in Sagan-dong. The doART Seoul, doART Beijing, Gallery Hyundai and Do Ha Gun are all under the Gallery Hyundai Company.
``We built this show in this way. It was a pleasure to put together artists that have never been shown together, and artists of different generations, even if it wasn't the main focus. With globalization, we now have to deal with artists from everywhere. We wanted to deal with forms that come from many different places. As a curator, we manipulate the works and put them together. The pieces go together perfectly in the room,'' Gautherot said.
Even the poster for the exhibit embodies the concept of ``alliance.'' Gautherot took a photograph of a sculpture featuring popular illusionists Siegfried and Roy and a tiger in Las Vegas.
He was fascinated with the story of how Roy was mauled by one of his trained tigers on stage in Las Vegas in 2003. There were reports that a woman with a strange beehive hairpiece distracted the tiger, making it think Roy was in danger. So the tiger attempted to protect Roy by biting him on the neck. Gautherot used this dramatic story to show how alliances are merely temporary.
The curators had to make some changes when bringing the exhibition to Seoul. Unlike in Beijing where the works were all in one venue, the three different venues for the Seoul exhibit means visitors will have to hop from one place to another.
``The space (in Seoul) was a totally different challenge. The rooms here have low ceilings and we had to expand the horizontal landscape of the art when we put them together. We also had different buildings for the show. When you go out from one building to another, you will go out to the real world in between. Even if the real world is infected by the number of policemen around,'' Gautherot said, referring to the policemen stationed in the streets leading to the Cheong Wa Dae.
When visitors enter the doART Seoul building, they are greeted with cool, ambient music composed by top Scottish DJ Howie B, who has worked with U2 and Bjork. The music serves to help visitors cleanse their minds and ``enter with an open mind ready for new sights.''
At the second floor of the building, visitors will find Lynda Benglis' metal wall reliefs ``Raptor'' and ``Tempest (Juliet)'' on one side, the neon lights of Bertrand Lavier's ``Sonnabend,'' Rachel Feinstein's unique fountain ``Untitled'' and Li Nannan's porcelain sea-urchins ``New Moon Full Moon'' scattered on the floor.
Also on display are Jim Drain's vibrantly colorful, knitted sailboat ``iii open iii closed,'' Gloria Friedman's ``Karaoke'' paintings featuring preserved birds; Sylvie Fleury's glittery ``Mushroom'' installation and ``Hako,'' a six-panel video installation by Hiraki Sawa.
DoArt Seoul is located at the old Gallery Hyundai building in Sagan-dong. Visit www.doartseoul.com or call (02) 2287-3500.
