Seung Woo Back
dal 12/5/2011 al 29/7/2011
Segnalato da
12/5/2011
Seung Woo Back
Artsonje Center, Seoul
Deferred Judgement
Curated by Sunjung Kim/SAMUSO
The Artsonje Center is pleased to present Seung Woo Back's Deferred
Judgement exhibition from May 13 to July 31, 2011. For this solo
exhibition Back will present three new series, Seven Days, Archive
Project, and Memento; and two new works, Signboard and Utopia-#032.
With his Real World I, Real World II, Blow Up, and Utopia series Back
became renowned for working within the limitations of photography to
expose the way it functions as a medium, as well as the invisible
structures behind all that we see, visually and conceptually. The
issues raised by these previous works where the real is juxtaposed
with the staged and imagined ideals are confronted by constructed
realities, are taken even further in Back's current exhibition that
addresses the norms that govern the way images are perceived and
counters the common habit of unquestioningly accepting images as
objective representations of reality.
Deferred Judgement operates as a glimpse into Back's investigations
of photography and the processes involved in image making. Here, the
artist's previous work is established as a departure point for a
renewed look at what constitutes an image and the pictures this
entails: from the roles of the artist and the viewer, to the printing
process or the mechanisms of conveying meaning. Signboard, an image
displaying all three titles of his previous series in lights,
foregrounds the mental images that titles suggest while showing how
these different images compete with each other to convey one overall
idea. The notion of different perspectives 'blowing up' a dominant
idea is extrapolated to Utopia-#032 where the artist revisits an image
from the Utopia series to make the fragmentary nature of all
'pictures' visible by reconfiguring segments of the image, printed in
thirteen different countries, into one print.
The three new series Back is showing at the Artsonje Center expand
his enquiry into the politics of the gaze into the realm of the
everyday. Unlike Blow Up, where previously neglected details in what
remained from photos taken and censored in North Korea are brought to
prominence, Seven Days consists of images of iconic public spaces in
Tokyo that have had all their distinguishing features erased. These
'simplified' images seem simultaneously familiar and strange like a
name we think we are about to remember but just stays on the tip of
the tongue. Since Memento and the Archive Project are constructed from
two separate archives of images Back has been collecting they could
also be related to notions of memory, more precisely the way memories
are ascribed to things and the notions of authorship this involves. In
the case of Memento Back invited different people to select a set of
eight images from a collection Back started in the US of over fifty
thousand photos from different families. Now that the photographs are
detached from the subjects that are portrayed in them, produced them,
or were charged with safeguarding their meanings, what narratives can
be constructed from these images by strangers? How will the viewers
(re)construct what they see?
As suggested by the title Deferred Judgement, this exhibition, in
resonance with Back's attitude towards his practice, does not offer
answers but rather establishes the means to question the different
elements that constitute a picture—be it a photograph, an image or a
concept—and the way these elements are all brought together to
impart visions of the world. However these visions are not always
complete, simple or harmonious. In fact, a striking strength in Back's
work is the ability to layer complex and conflicting images that
unsettle the viewer into slowly gaining awareness that the apparent
seamlessness of an image is deceiving. By fostering this experience,
Back's photographs may eventually impel viewers to realize that their
role in perceiving an image and grasping meanings from it is not as
passive as they might like to believe.
To accompany the exhibition SAMUSO and Hyunsil Culture Studies
published Nobody Reads Pictures with support from Maeil Dairies Co.,
Ltd. This monograph includes an interview by Sunjung Kim and texts by
Young Min Moon, Keum Hyun Han, and Hyeyoung Shin.
Artsonje Center was founded in 1998 and plays a crucial role in
exhibiting and fostering contemporary art in Seoul, South Korea. Aimed
at nurturing familiarity with contemporary artistic practice, Artsonje
Center is dedicated to the development of a program consisting of
exhibitions, screenings, lectures, workshops, publications, an
education program and a bookshop/lounge project.
SAMUSO: Space for Contemporary Art was established by curator Sunjung
Kim in 2005 and has grown into a curatorial office dedicated to
presenting, producing, promoting and nurturing innovative exhibitions;
public and educational programs—including lectures, symposia and
publications; and collaborations that bring contemporary art to
broader national and international audiences and contexts. Platform
Seoul (2006–2010), an annually recurring event seeking alternative
models and procedures for exhibitions to operate within wider cultural
contexts, is emblematic of SAMUSO's projects to date.
Press enquiries: press@samuso.org
Opening Reception: May 12, 2011, 6pm
Artist Talk: Friday, May 27, 2011, 7pm
Artsonje Center
144-2 Sokeuk-dong, 43 Gamgodang-gil, Jongro-gu, Seoul
Opening Hours: 11am – 7pm (Closed on Monday)
Exhibition tours: 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm 4 times a day
Admission Fee: Adult 3,000won / Student 1,500won