East Contemporary

“Artificial Garden” at Nam Seoul Museum of Art

Seoul Museum of Art – Nam Seoul Branch, Seoul, http://seoulmoa.seoul.go.kr
December 2012

The ‘south side’ branch of the Seoul Museum of Art had an exhibition on show that featured a well-balanced mix of media art. There was a multi-channel video projection showing a surreal spatial stop-motion situation (Sophie Clements), generative computer graphics (Lab[au]), a projection on a painted canvas (Ranbir Kaleka) as well as a water-themed projection on a sculptural object (Seo Hyo-Jung).

Ranbir Kaleka

Seo Hyo-Jung

The show did not only contain screen/projection based works. For example there was a light installation by Hybe which was part of the show – an interactive remake of Dan Flavin.

Hybe

Hybe

Architecture-related were also works by architect Kook Hyun-gul (showing a spatial installation) and the Austrian group Haus-Rucker-Co. (showing photo collages of ‘impossible’ architectural installations).

Kook Hyun-gul

On top of the screen-based and space/installation-based works, two installations ventured into the realm of sound art. One was Yangachi feat. Ryu Han-Kil, a hard-to-grasp installation of objects, lights and sound… maybe this was the aftermath of a performance?

Yangachi feat. Ryu Han-Kil

Yangachi feat. Ryu Han-Kil

 

Yangachi feat. Ryu Han-Kil

Yangachi feat. Ryu Han-Kil (detail)

The sound installation by Kwon Byung-Jun featuring Yoon Su-Hee consisted of an array of speakers suspended from the ceiling, emitting a slowly modulated sound based on a number of sinus-shapes oscillator sources, I’m guessing.

Given the topics of architecture, sound and media art connected by the overarching topic of space, this exhibition was very close to my own artistic and research interests and I really enjoyed it. I liked how each artwork has been given its own space in the form of an extra room. The partitioning of the space (inherited from its historical use) was well suited for this purpose. There was no interference among the light/sound based artworks which was really great. The Haus-Rucker-Co. installation was a bit dry compared to the rest (no multimedia, just prints), but on the other side it showed how architecture exists across different spaces. That, in the end, was shown by the whole exhibition. Architecture present in ideas, in virtual space, in real space, in light design and in sound.

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