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Hermes award finalists display work

 

Three finalists of this year’s Hermes Foundation Missulsang, or art award, are showcasing their works at Atelier Hermes in Sinsa-dong, southern Seoul. The final winner, who will take home a plaque and a prize of 20 million won ($17,000), will be selected after the second deliberation on Sept. 2.

Established in 2000 to promote Korean culture and art through sponsorship for the artists, the annual award has put many talented artists such as Kim Beom, Suh Do-ho and Park Chan-kyong in the limelight.

This year’s finalists ― Yangachi, Bae Jong-heon, Park Jina ― were narrowed down from 10 nominees by five judges including Roh Soh-yeong, director of Art Center Nabi; Ahn Kyu-chul, artist and professor at Korean National University of Arts, Seoul; Song Mi-sook, honorary professor at Sungshin Women’s University; Saskia Bos, dean of Cooper Union, U.S.; and Stephanie Moisdon, independent curator.

Sponsored by the Hermes Foundation for new projects, the three finalists offer some peculiar and creative works at Atelier Hermes.

“The Mountain of Casper David Fredrich” (right) and “The Sea of Joseph Mallord William Turner,” both by Bae Jong-heon                                                                Atelier Hermes

Media artist Yangachi introduces a multi-view video series titled “Bright Dove Hyunsook” which is an extension of his recent “Surveillance Drama” series. The new series showcases various points of view including a human’s, a bird’s and several CCTV cameras’.

“We become different people depending on whether we are at work, with parents, friends or a lover. When you look at people from a multi-view, like from a bird’s point of view, then a human’s and then a CCTV’s, you can understand why people are acting in such a way at the moment,” Yangachi told the press last Thursday.

“Measuring Level” by Park Jina                                                                                Atelier Hermes

In the series, a Korean woman named Hyunsook wears a hat with a dove on top and wanders around the neighborhood in Buam-dong in central Seoul and in Dosan Park, just in front of Atelier Hermes, swinging her arms and making dove-like noises.

“Doves and CCTVs are very alike. They are numerous in the city, people hate it when they are too close but just ignore them when they are not so near,” Yangachi added.

The installation view of Yangachi’s media work “Bright Dove Hyunsook – Dove view”                                                                                                                                           Atelier Hermes

Inspired by the global climate change issue and fed up with the vague weather forecasts and research, Bae proposes a new project, “A weather forecast,” to question how the scientific analysis of observing and studying natural phenomena has come to control our lives and society.

Bae Jong-heon

One of the most interesting works of the project is “My own weather forecast” in which Bae appears on the TV screen to give the day’s weather forecast for different spots inside his house using his homemade gadgets.

Park Jina

“I didn’t want to make any obvious, outdated works so I created things based on my own personal experiences,” said Bae.

Two of his automatic installations ― “The mountain of Caspar David Friedrich” and “The sea of Joseph Mallord William Turner” ― which he took from Friedrich and Turner’s masterpieces are eye-catching as well.

Yangachi

“I found it interesting how Friedrich thought of nature as a subject to conquer while Turner considered it as greatly powerful. Personally, I think humans are destroying nature. You will see what I mean when you take a look at the works from behind,” said Bae.

Looking from behind, visitors will be surprised to see that the paintings were done on a canvas made from wastes like ramen and cracker packages connected together.

Park’s works are relatively monotonous, compared to Yangachi and Bae’s adventurous works, but unique in their own way. She took snap shots of people installing artworks at a gallery or an art museum, getting ready to hold an exhibition, and painted the scenes on canvas.

“Art museums and galleries are spaces that have special purposes. They are made to be considered as familiar but actually change all the time. I wanted to capture the special place,” said Park.

The 2010 Hermes Foundation Missulsang Exhibition runs through Sep. 19 at Atelier Hermes on the third floor of Maison Hermes Dosan Park in Sinsa-dong, southern Seoul. For more information, call (02) 544-7722.

By Park Min-young  (claire@heraldm.com)