SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN                     

16.03-14.04.2018  

opening: Thu.,15.03.2018. 7 pm 

Mariana HAHN   .   Tzusoo   .   William WINTER  

curator Gyusik LEE 

What constitutes dignity? In the midst of countless controversies, conflicts and never-ending news stories, in each moment we find ourselves facing choices, forced to make decisions. Truth appears to be collapsing as we lose our humanity. Society lives in overabundance while simultaneously lacking for everything, this contradiction causes hesitation when facing choices.
 
Even within these circumstances, we have the ability to live as independent thinkers due to our belief system. What do we see and what do we believe in? Belief does not answer all of our questions although belief can fill the space in which we seek answers. As humans, whatever our beliefs, the act of believing itself provides us with dignity. In this exhibition, each of the following artists, Mariana Hahn, Tzusoo, and William Winter provide us with various perspectives on the topic of belief.
 
Through the use of sound, video, photos and objects, Mariana Hahn creates her own unique world within the installation Nesthaut. Each element in this world exists as a metaphor. Believing that a woven dress holds its own memory, Hahn captures the histories of these dresses through a process of preservation. In contrast, she presents small scraps of paper containing messages that slowly fade away. Though each separate moment possibly exists on its own forever, these written messages transform with the passage of time, changing just as our surroundings. Hahn’s extended video presents changing sceneries including a sound of repeated brushing that resonates through the exhibition space, generating a ritual-like atmosphere that encourages visitors to pause for a moment in meditation.
           
Pulp Nonfiction by Tzusoo, is reminiscent of a four-panel cartoon strip, presenting a dialogue between characters with monotonous lines and images. Tzusoo uses broken German dialogue triggering the audience to wonder if the conversation actually occurred. The fragmentary dialogue can be either her story or the story of the audience. Do you believe that communication can happen only through language? Do grammatically perfect sentences enable complete communication? The dialogue between the characters, interpreted as that of your own or that of others is a satire of misunderstanding and violence caused by language and this form of communication.
 
On Mount Olympus by William Winter suggests a new form of role-playing in extended space, via the style of a role-playing video game. Audiences in Chroma key masks (the players), appear on the screen as having animal heads representing a sacrifice or as the heads of Greek gods carrying out missions, such as giving or receiving gifts. In combination with traditional video game imagery, the players on the screen exist in an augmented reality. Missions are provided to the participants that are experiencing the extended space inside of the mask, absorbing the participants/players into their newly assigned roles. Though thoroughly engrossing the limited frame and view on the screen is designed to keep the players at a distance so they remain aware, conscious of real space and the subject of the action.


Each of these artists tell a special story about belief from their own perspective. In our cities we continue to lose bits of our humanity, hindering us from living our own authentic lives. In an effort to retain our humanity and independently believe in something we continue to move forward. Ultimately it is the individual that decides what to believe in. Now more than any other time in history we crave to believe. What do you believe in?

Heeryung HONG                                

UNTIL THE MOMENT

16.03-14.04.2018

opening: Thu.,15.03.2018. 7 pm

curator Lynne Margaret BROWN

Through her new work Until the Moment, Korean, international artist Heeryung Hong directly engages the audience through the creation of an event. As Jacques Derrida examines and plays with language and words, Hong deconstructs the meaning of idioms and public statements, conjuring double entendre and reinterpreting value through the arrangement of objects, space and movement. Her intimate installation invites the viewer in, allowing one to question signification through an active, kinetic and sensory experience. Relying upon movement, duration and time Hong’s work attempts to represent human sentiment and response. Until the Moment is designed to function as a symbol of the feeling that builds within us when a lie or personal secret is about to be exposed.  The gesture that occurs here is meant to convey a sense of anticipation, nervousness and fear.  Through the construction of this active installation, Hong proceeds to intervene and play with traditional notions of truth and its reveal/revealing.

Until the Moment also plays metaphorically with the notion of catharsis, restraint and freedom (or lack thereof). Within the work we find an object appearing to represent one’s burden, this is abruptly released, falling rapidly, only then to be caught halting the action and movement before it (the hidden truth) can be “revealed”, alleviating all feelings of anxiety and fear.  In Poetics Aristotle refers to this type of release as a catharsis.  Within this work there is no release, there is no catharsis. This action continues to carry with it the constant anxiety and fear that at any moment it’s secret will be revealed, repeating the cycle again and again.

Through the work Until the Moment, Hong engages in metaphor to represent her interest in the passage of time, duration, memory/personal experiences and existence in the present moment. Though Hong is not particularly interested in politics, in the current climate one may find it possible to form associations with her work and greater societal concerns.  More accurately Hong strives to create a sense of empathy with the viewer, to form a bond between the artist and the audience, examining her own being and existence in relationship to society.

Heeryung Hong is a Korean and International visual artist based in Daegu. Born in Yeongju, Hong initially trained as a painter, then evolving into a concept-based installation artist.  Her work consists of installations in which she creates events and interventions based upon an exploration of meaning in language and text through objects. She is interested in consciousness, the passage of the time and its meaning as observed through human relationships, the disappearance of existence and our inability to be separated from the past and the future. Hong has completed a BA and MA in Fine Art from Yeung Nam University as well as an MA at the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London, she has exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions.

www.heeryunghong.com