2008.11.3
The international Daegu Photo Biennale 2008 photo festival kicked off on Friday, placing the spotlight on Asia and featuring some 1,500 photos by 200 leading photographers from 10 countries.
"We have a lot of interest in Western photos but don`t really know about Asian photos even though we live in Asia," said Koo Bohn-chang, the biennale`s artistic director. The biennale attracts more interest this year since Koo is one of the top Korean photographers and also a well-known figure around the world.
"This Biennale is focused on three countries of Asia - Korea, China and Japan - and it provides a chance to learn about them," he said.
This year, the main exhibition views the artistic trend of modern photographers as well as that of documentary photos in Asia. Under the theme "Then & Now - Memories of the Future," the biennale seeks a balance between the two roles of photography: art and record.
"Memories of the Future," one of the two main expositions, holds 400 works by modern Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese and Japanese photographers at EXCO in Daegu. Each has a unique theme related to the countries` socio-cultural background.
"The Sensibility of Life: The Reconfigured Eye" is an exhibition of 12 Korean photographers who offer incisive commentary on modern Korean society. In "The Night Prior to an Event," Yang Jae-kwan criticizes the Korean tendency to put too much emphasis on the cause and result of an event without trying to understand the details or procedures.
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Baek Seung-woo shows an imaginary world in his "Real World" series, for example by placing the Eiffel tower in the middle of Seoul. It is a satire on Koreans who live with fantasies about Western culture.
Fifteen Chinese and Taiwanese photographers express their unique thoughts about life in the exposition "While Alive." The photos reflect various changes China went through in the last 20 years. Chiu I-Chien depicts the hard lives of the common people in Taiwan in his series "Night Market in Taiwan." Liu Lijie expresses her feelings of the miscellaneous and seductive world in the series "Another Episode."
In the exhibit titled "Body Images in Digital Era," 12 Japanese photographers display bold and provocative photos. In "The Three Fates," Yanagi Miwa visualizes the Moirae, who are the three sisters of Greek mythology in charge of fate. The oldest - Cloto - spins human life out of her hair but grows old and miserable because she can no longer control her ever-growing hair. Anrakuju Emi posts a wall full of photos with body parts bitten or invaded by bugs.
"Photographs from 100 Years Ago," the other main show at EXCO, displays 350 rare photos of the three Asian countries back in the days when cameras had just been introduced as a new technology. The unfamiliar faces and the forgotten backgrounds in the black and white photos remind viewers of the importance of taking photos as a means of recording and remembrance.
However, the Korean section seems brief due to the dearth of old photos. "There weren`t many photos of Korea at that time that we could collect, and, actually, I wanted the viewers to realize that," Koo said. "The original role of photography is to record. If we can`t see that, in another 100 years we might still lack photos to remember upon."
Despite the smaller number of older works, some Korean photos come off as quite a discovery. The panorama photo of Gyeongbok Palace taken in 1888 is shown to the public for the first time at this biennale.
"It is the first time for many photos of the olden days to be selected and printed by a photographer," Koo said. "The qualities will be exquisite."
In addition, special exhibitions are held at the Daegu Culture and Arts Center. "Sway in the Space," for instance, introduces 10 photographers under 40 who sport their clever imaginations. The ring-shaped exhibition room is filled with their experimental work. Kim Chun-soo is one of them, an up-and-coming photographer who does not rely on conventional picture-taking methods.
"I take photos from the internet and modify them to create whatever I wanted to say or see," he said.
"Changing Social Landscape: Democratic People`s Republic of Korea 1950~2008" shows pictures of people and the environment in North Korea, taken by 12 well-known photographers like Margaret Bourke-White, a former photographer of Life magazine. The photos are displayed in chronological order, giving viewers a sense of how the country has changed during the last 50 years.
Contrasting scenes show the social gap, such as beaming faces of beautiful girls at a sports game and the shabby looks of an old woman giving a baby a piggy back ride, both taken in 2008.
Meanwhile, "4 Hidden Photographers," directed by Ku himself, exhibits works by Han Young-soo, Shoji Ueda, Zhuang Xueben, and Chang Chao-Tang which deserve better public recognition in consideration of their artistic value.
"The last 10 years was a very progressive time for Korean photography," said Wendy Watriss, a reviewer of this biennale and one of the founders of the FotoFest, the internationally known photographic arts and education organization based in Houston. "The biennale exposes many photos that show an Asian perspective which was not seen outside of Asia."
The Biennale runs through Nov. 16 at EXCO, Daegu Culture and Arts Center, Bongsan Cultural Center, and many other galleries in Daegu city. Admission is 7,000 won. For more information, call (053) 601-5052 or visit the biennale website at www.daeguphoto.com
By Park Min-young
(claire@heraldm.com)
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