Media City Seoul to seek trust in media art
Among art biennales and fairs set to take place in Korea’s major cities in September, one in Seoul will shed light on media art.
“Media City Seoul 2010,” one of the few international biennials in the world to focus on media art, will kick off on Sept. 6 at four venues in central Seoul, including Seoul Museum of Art, Gyunghuigung Annex of Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul Museum of History and Simpson Memorial Hall in Ewha Girl’s High School.
Established in 2000, the biennale hosted by Seoul Metropolitan Government and organized by Seoul Museum of Art aims to strengthen the image of Seoul as a capital of technological development. It had changed the name to “Seoul International Media Biennale” in its second year, but returned to its original name this year, its sixth.
“We did not want to give off an image as a one-time event by using the name biennale. So we are going back to the original name, to ruminate about how we had aimed to turn the whole city into an exhibition venue,” said Kim Sun-jung, artistic director of the event and vice director of Artsonje Center, at a press conference on Wednesday.
The event may not cover the entire city but it does cover the central Seoul area around Gyunghuigung and Deoksugung.
“The event used to take place only in Seoul Museum of Art but expanded to using three more venues. This year’s Media City Seoul will be the best in both quantity and quality,” said Yoo Hee-Young, director of Seoul Museum of Art.
This year’s theme is “Trust.”
“Media and individual lives have become inseparable. Overflowing sources of media continue to redefine and alter everyday life and we have to choose what to see and what to trust. Now would be a timely moment to reexamine our basic notion of media,” said Kim.
Three curators -- Clara Kim, director and curator of Gallery at REDCAT in Los Angeles, Nicolaus Schafhausen, director of Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, Fumihiko Sumitomo, curator at Arts Initiative Tokyo -- selected works by 46 artists from 21 countries.
Some of the participating artists will be familiar to media art fans, such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the Palme D’Or winner at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival.
Other names, however, might not immediately ring any bells because they are not known much as media artists. Instead of using new media, they use various forms of media, including “old media” like magazines, newspapers, photographs, urban detritus and sounds.
As well as indoor screenings of the exhibits, the event will also experiment with outdoor projects which require visitor participation. In one interactive artwork titled “Ulrike and Eamon complaint” by Blast Theory visitors have to wander around the Jeongdong area following orders given to them through distributed cellphones.
The outdoor projects are supported by the British Council.
Media City Seoul 2010 runs from Sept. 6 to Nov. 17. Admission is free. Audio guides are available in Korean and English. For details, visit www.mediacityseoul.org.
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
“Media City Seoul 2010,” one of the few international biennials in the world to focus on media art, will kick off on Sept. 6 at four venues in central Seoul, including Seoul Museum of Art, Gyunghuigung Annex of Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul Museum of History and Simpson Memorial Hall in Ewha Girl’s High School.
Established in 2000, the biennale hosted by Seoul Metropolitan Government and organized by Seoul Museum of Art aims to strengthen the image of Seoul as a capital of technological development. It had changed the name to “Seoul International Media Biennale” in its second year, but returned to its original name this year, its sixth.
“We did not want to give off an image as a one-time event by using the name biennale. So we are going back to the original name, to ruminate about how we had aimed to turn the whole city into an exhibition venue,” said Kim Sun-jung, artistic director of the event and vice director of Artsonje Center, at a press conference on Wednesday.
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| A man participating in Blast Theory’s outdoor project “Ulrike and Eamon compliant” at the 2009 Venice Biennale listens to orders given through his cellphone. Media City Seoul |
The event may not cover the entire city but it does cover the central Seoul area around Gyunghuigung and Deoksugung.
“The event used to take place only in Seoul Museum of Art but expanded to using three more venues. This year’s Media City Seoul will be the best in both quantity and quality,” said Yoo Hee-Young, director of Seoul Museum of Art.
This year’s theme is “Trust.”
“Media and individual lives have become inseparable. Overflowing sources of media continue to redefine and alter everyday life and we have to choose what to see and what to trust. Now would be a timely moment to reexamine our basic notion of media,” said Kim.
Three curators -- Clara Kim, director and curator of Gallery at REDCAT in Los Angeles, Nicolaus Schafhausen, director of Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, Fumihiko Sumitomo, curator at Arts Initiative Tokyo -- selected works by 46 artists from 21 countries.
Some of the participating artists will be familiar to media art fans, such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the Palme D’Or winner at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival.
Other names, however, might not immediately ring any bells because they are not known much as media artists. Instead of using new media, they use various forms of media, including “old media” like magazines, newspapers, photographs, urban detritus and sounds.
As well as indoor screenings of the exhibits, the event will also experiment with outdoor projects which require visitor participation. In one interactive artwork titled “Ulrike and Eamon complaint” by Blast Theory visitors have to wander around the Jeongdong area following orders given to them through distributed cellphones.
The outdoor projects are supported by the British Council.
Media City Seoul 2010 runs from Sept. 6 to Nov. 17. Admission is free. Audio guides are available in Korean and English. For details, visit www.mediacityseoul.org.
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
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