Reconstruction
of Story II introduces artists who attempt to place new
index of memory that form the interior and exterior of image through
exploration of image that appears to be fictional assembly of various common
ideas resulted from complex history, politics, environment and culture. Like
examining the entire space of a particular area through the map or imagining
the interior of the planet earth through cross-sectional diagram of the
stratum, the act of penetrating actual layers latent within the image of the
current world is similar to dissecting and reconstructing memories in relation
to particular incident or existences. Duncan Campbell and The Otolith Group
from UK each poses question on the issues of the world and existence through
different forms of essay film, and Wael Shawky from Egypt poses question on the
historicity itself through the reconstruction of history. In this way, the
works of these artists propose a new perception in understanding the
world.
Duncan Campbell is an Irish artist currently
living and working in Glasgow, Scotland. His films combine footage images as an
archive and stories embedded within the ordinary modes that rule the everyday
lives of the contemporary capitalist society, while throwing a question on the
relationship of the dialectical coexistent system and the existence of mankind.
His filmography extends from Bernadette,
Falls Burns Malone Fiddles to Make It New John and more, and in this
he reinterprets the image of footage and old pictures that records the fragmentary
history, suggesting open discourse on historical truth and political/social
issues. It For Others, which won the
Turner Prize in 2014, is a witty work that raises fundamental question on the
cultural structure, interchanged with the significance of the arts and the
commercial value and utility of works of art.
The Otolith Group from UK was formed by Anjalika
Sagar and Kodwo Eshun in 2002. This group takes the materiality of image and
sound as media and fictionally connects with the time of the future in studying
all-directional issues including the activity of sun, movement of stratum,
technology and transformation of sensory, and the environment accumulated by
capitalist civilization. The fragmentary images of the past readily becomes a
momentum to predict future in the film and the materials referenced from
literature, cinema, music, science and etc. blurs the boundary between reality
and fiction, making their work appear to be a Sci-Fi documentary film with
history and fictional stories combined together. Except for the large-scale
films like The Radiant or Medium Earth, most works are produced in
the minimal forms and they construct a new relationship of image and language
with collected photographs and objects, sound and gesture within the process of
their studies. Consequently, the works of The Otolith Group may resemble a
presentation of a course of study that examines the phenomena of the universe
and world inclusive of the existence of human beings.
Duncan Campbell and The Otolith Group both converts
our thoughts on the existence and object by exposing the fictiveness of image
through the connoted layer of memory within the image itself, sound and
silence, and the intervention of language rather than destroying the stereotypes
of image.
Lastly, Egyptian artist, Wael Shawky completed
a trilogy of the Crusades using a marionette show. The crusades were series of
war occurred in between the late 11th century and late 13th
century and this was mostly treated in the perspective of Western European
Christians. It is necessary to review the commonly mentioned 8 religious wars
between Christians and Muslim, in different perspective of complex history,
politics and social contexts. The Crusades trilogy of Wael Shawky began in 2010
and it was completed in 2015. This work
arouses the audience to reconsider the complex contemporary issues of religion,
myth, culture, and politics through the grand epic theater of the Crusades, The
shapes and expressions of the marionette dolls and the background that reminds
of a medieval fresco, express the emotional aspect of unfolding events, but the
context of every incident is open as much as to induce various interpretations
from the audience.
Reconstruction
of Story II: Duncan Campbell, The Otolith Group and Wael Shawky
introduces the entire single-channel films created by these three artists.
Every works of Duncan Campbell are introduced for the first time in Korea and
the entire works of The Otolith Group will be screened with a single-channel
installation, Sovereign Sisters
(2014), which will be played in loop with open theater doors. Moreover, the
entire trilogy of Wael Shawky will be presented along with the last series, Cabaret Crusades3: The Secrets of Karbala. The works of these three artists
approach truth by tracing the rear of incidents and provide opportunity for the
audience to view the political, social and cultural elements influencing our
thoughts and senses in analytical ways. In addition, the methodology of these
three artists that reconstructs new story through the sound beyond image, is
likely their own answers to the question of what art is.
※ Reconstruction of Story2 Brochure
※ Reconstruction of Story2 Screening Schedule
