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| Artist Jung Yeon-doo / MMCA |
By Park Han-sol
Interdisciplinary artist Jung Yeon-doo has been named the creator for this year's MMCA Hyundai Motor Series by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Korea.
Through photographs, videos, installations and performances, Jung has garnered attention both at home and abroad for creatively delving into the all-too-familiar relationship between reality and illusion.
Since 2010, the artist has broadened his focus to reinterpret memories and lived experiences that arise within modern and contemporary history ― migration, diaspora, war and disaster.
In 2021, he showcased the interdisciplinary art project called "DMZ Theater" with Surya at the MMCA Seoul, where the two reimagined the buried micro-narratives ― either inspired by real historical events or modern folk tales ― associated with the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) through staged photography and live performance.
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| A scene from interdisciplinary arts performance and installation, "DMZ Theater ― Complete Victory Theater" (2021) by Jung Yeon-doo and Surya, shown at the MMCA Seoul / Courtesy of MMCA |
In the exhibition slated for a September opening at the MMCA's Seoul branch, the 53-year-old will unveil four new works, including the video-based installation titled "Century's Journey."
The piece aims to dissect the layered topics of cultural hybridity and generational rifts which are innately connected to border-crossing and the diasporic identification that comes with it. It will do so by exploring the narratives associated with the first generation of Korean immigrants, who left their homeland in the early 20th century to work in the plantations of Mexico and eventually built their own settlements.
The MMCA Hyundai Motor Series is the museum's annual art project launched in 2014 in partnership with Hyundai Motor Company. Dedicated to promoting esteemed Korean contemporary creators, the series selects one artist or team with a unique vision each year and organizes a solo exhibition showcasing their newly commissioned works.
Jung became the 10th artist to be selected for the project. Other internationally renowned creators chosen in the past iterations include Lee Bul, Kimsooja, Yang Hae-gue, the duo of Moon Kyung-won and Jeon Joon-ho, and Choe U-ram.
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