East Contemporary

Ujeongguk: “Forking room 2024 – hyper super x-large … boom”

Seoul, April 19 – April 27, 2024, http://ujeongguk.com & https://www.forkingroom.kr It has been 9 years since my last visit. Ujeongguk is still there and looks about the same. The current exhibition seems to be organized by an entity called “Forking Room” and is in fact a mini-festival consisting of an art show, artist talks, lectures…

Ilmin Museum of Art „Foreverism: Endless Horizons“

Seoul, April 12 – June 23, 2024, https://ilmin.org A show dealing with nostalgia and the never-ending „retro“ longing for something in time/space away from one’s current place. A craving that is also fuelled by media technology that allows us to share our attention between multiple places/times simultaneously. I am here, but I could be there,…

MMCA Gwacheon: “Geometric abstraction in Korean art” (+ photographs collection + Nam June Paik)

Seoul, Nov 16, 2023 – May 19, 2024, https://www.mmca.go.kr There were three shows on during my visit. All were telling different parts of a grand contemporary Korean art narrative. Korean new media master Nam June Paik’s masterpiece. Korean photography. Korean geometric abstraction. Defining a coherent historical narrative and canon of works that support it is…

HdKW: transmediale 2024 (day 3)

Berlin, January 31 – February 3, 2024, https://transmediale.de, https://www.hkw.de/ Dubravka Sekulic, Silvio Lorusso “Users, politics, linkinbio” talk “Thanks” to some demonstration that lead to a cancellation of the only bus line to HkW, I could enjoy this first lecture of the day via livestream while walking through Tiergarten. Also not bad. Based on the description…

Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien: transmediale 2024 “this is perfect, perfect, perfect”

Berlin, January 31 – April 14, 2024, https://transmediale.de, https://kunstraumkreuzberg.de The exhibition accompanying transmediale 2024. I don’t want to write about all the artworks, but overall it was definitely worthy to see. Within the context of transmediale, the exhibition most closely embodied this years theme dealing with the “horror of content”, i.e. the fading boundaries between…

Silent Green: transmediale 2024 (day 1 & 2)

Berlin, January 31 – February 3, 2024, https://transmediale.de, https://www.silent-green.net/ First, the ugly and the bad: transmediale sadly employed the same hidden price increase method as a lot of FMCG manufacturers do these days: Same price, same packaging design, but less content. It always offends me a bit, because I feel like someone thinks I am…

Dox: Andres Serrano “Infamous Beauty” + “Beyond Words” + Genesis Breyer P-Orridge “It Is a Painful Thing to Be Alone: We Are But One”

Prague, June 8, 2023 – January 7, 2024 (Andres Serrano), September 14,2023 – February 11, 2024 (Beyond Words), October 26, 2023 – March 3, 2024 (Genesis Breyer P-Orridge), https://www.dox.cz On my visit, Dox featured a mixed bag of exhibitions. The large space close to the entrance was devoted to an Andres Serrano solo show. All…

Kunsthalle Praha: Elmgreen & Dragset “READ”

Prague, November 16, 2023 – April 22, 2024, https://www.kunsthallepraha.org Elmgreen & Dragset are a well-known artistic “brand” in the global art market. Their installations are transforming gallery spaces into something slightly different by shifting or reversing certain expectations of spatial arrangements or material qualities. In the case of the “READ” exhibition, one could in fact…

Meet Factory: Michele Gabriele “Walking Our Distance”

Prague, December 1, 2023 – January 28, 2024, http://www.meetfactory.cz The central figure of the exhibition, both in metaphorical and spatial terms, was an humanoid fish-like alien with an afro-asian face. Numerous pencil-drawn portraits of this creature were lined up along the walls of the main exhibition hall. Some portraits were very precise and detailed, others…

Meet Factory: Lenka Glisnikova “Moment of Seclusion Over the Horizon”

Prague, December 1, 2023 – January 28, 2024, http://www.meetfactory.cz The installation in one large spacious room contained mysterious objects that looked like a real-life materialization of computer 3D simulations of liquid flows and biological forms. Partially hanging on thick metal ropes from the ceiling, partially placed on the floor. The objects were made of two…