Personal, political memory shared at Be mobile in immobility

By Kwon Mee-yoo

A unique exhibition exploring the life and memory of modern people through various means titled “Be mobile in immobility (The materialized memory)” is being held at the Total Museum of Contemporary Art in Pyeongchang-dong, Seoul.

Fourteen artists from five countries turned the two-story museum into a warehouse of memories in an artistic way.

Six artists from Rijks Academy of Fine Art in the Netherlands initiated the project and invited more artists from various regions. The keyword of the project is “participation” and they seek to do collective work. Fahrettin Orenli from Turkey said, “We are artists and we want to be more diverse.” He is visiting Korea to organize the exhibition.

The multinational artists collect experience and memory, materialize them and transfer them to another place. In other words, they try to share personal, communal, social and political memories through various methods of art, such as drawing, videotaping, installation works and photography.

They claim that they all have “wanderlust” in common, which also serves as the context that defines their profession as artists.

“Since we are democratic and need everyone’s consent to make a decision, it is difficult to decide on certain things,” said Ham Yang-ah, a Korean artist who leads the project.

The “Be mobile in immobility” exhibition is organized entirely by the artists, not by curators.

“We contracted with the museums, brought our work and even arranged the artworks together and publicized the exhibition,” Ham said. “For those who couldn’t come to Korea, we showed them the floor plan and checked the arrangements through Skype.”

Ham presented “An Artist” at this exhibition. The work is a chocolate sculpture of her, melting.

“Chocolate is addictive, but it also can melt away quickly. I wanted to show the relationships and structure in the art scene and the balance and power between artists and other people such as curators, especially the role of artist,” she said.

Orenli exhibited “Conspiracy Wall: ANARTIST.” The artist filled three walls with various drawings, prints and videos based on his political memory.

On the other side of the wall, letter-shaped mirrors reflect the work. “The mirrors question the position of artists and political thinking,” Orenli said.

He has visited Korea several times since 2004. “Korea is changing fast and it is important to preserve the memory,” the artist said. Maybe that is the reason he drew President Lee Myung-bak on one of the three walls.

Another interesting artist among them is Patin Zyro. His work “Through” is a combination of video and installation. The video clip is an interview of Moon Shin-kyu, founder of the gallery, and Noh Joon-eui, the museum’s director, talking about history and memory regarding the museum and horse figures are displayed in a somewhat neglected manner.

Actually the polystyrene horses are a part of Total Museum’s collection, waiting for repair. The artist found them on the roof of the museum and brought them back into the gallery space, along with cleaning equipment, calling attention to the memory and the place of the exhibition.

In fact, Zyro is not a real person. The artists created an imaginary artist for their collective work and named him after a gypsy.

Other artists participating in the project include Sebastian Diaz Morales from Argentina; Boukje Janssen, Dick Verdult and Rob Johannesma from the Netherlands; Jean Bernard Koeman from Belgium; Sefer Memisoglu from Turkey; Oh Sun-young and Park Joo-yeon from Korea and more.

They chose Total Museum as the first location for this project since the place is neutral and open to new art. “The museum was another context for us. Total Museum went through an organic transformation along the change of trend in the contemporary art scene and we tried to reflect such characteristics in the exhibition.”

The exhibition runs through June 12 and will travel to Istanbul in September and Amsterdam in 2012. “Some works at the Seoul exhibition will be on display, but some will be removed. Basically, we will react to the new space,” Orenli said.

Zyro will grow up based on the artists’ memory as well.

“We are like a temporary community and we can present one shared vision through Zyro. That’s our challenge,” Ham said.

Visit www.totalmuseum.org or call (02) 379-7037 for more information.