•Explain your
work: what do you want to
show through it?
I
am quite interested in the meaning of archetypes in what we call a “westernized” society and the
values they tend to convey, such as competition, employment, profitability, standardization.
But
i also look on the sides, at the absurdities we can find inside this heroic
image: idleness and boredom, anomie, obsessions.
My
first works were absurd actions done at a workplace i had in France:
I
was a night watchman there, with basically
doing nothing, in empty rooms i didn´t belong to. I
felt like a sort of anti-hero, in a dialectical situation: being there and not
belonging to the workplace, when nobody
present, being a potential “hero” – the chefs told us
we should be called “security agents” rather than “night watchmen”- but we had nothing to do, just waiting in case of...
There
was a big difference between the image and the everyday reality which we try to
mold into our expectation. This creates a sort of frustrating tension, which is
now the motor of many of my works.
For
example, The Hitch which i created while in Residency at the Seoul Art Space Geumcheon
deals with two kinds of “heroic” figures, let´s call them the
martial artist and the businessman. But the video is a kind of absurd running
gag: you follow a man walking until another person ( each time the same guy) takes
him down with an Hapkido move. both characters then continue their path until
the next move.
I
removed every spectacular aspects: in most of the looped 29min video you see
the man just walking, you expect a kind of event, until the second performer
comes. But even there, the move itself creates a frustration by its briefness
and its meaninglessness, and because each character aren´t affected by it.
But
despite this, some spectators told me they enjoyed watching “the Hitch”, because their
attention began to focus on the background, in every small events occurring in
the street while i performed. It´s a very important
thing for me: these spectators somehow escaped the pressure of their
expectations to win a sort of freedom while watching.
•How did you know
this place?
A Korean friend in Berlin told me about it and advised me to apply. The most
surprising thing for me is being accepted, this is my first residency.
•How do you think
about the Geumcheon art space?/ What is the artspace and program's merits and
demerits?
It
is a very good place, with highly professional artists. We are not so far from
the center but also not in the most well-known areas, in a quite traditional
area. The Art space organizes a lot of events for the people in the
surroundings such as workshops, exhibition visits and so. It was good that our
open studio were not visited by professionals only, but also by people of the
surroundings.
I
was also happy to have some new working opportunities as an artist here: For
the first time i animated a workshop, i finally had a longer and improved
critical text about my work and had a first solo show outside Berlin for
example.
•Is there any
problem or anything needs improvement?
I
haven´t had problems, maybe just sometimes the communication
between us and the office members could have been a bit difficult, mainly
because our English levels aren´t the best. But
they improved this by employing new personal with more English skills. On my
side i learn Korean but still have a too low level in order to use it in
working situations.
