THEO will hold 『Finitioni : To an end』, a two person exhibition by Grim Park and Tae Kim, from March 3 to 31, 2023.
Finitioni : To an end
What does an end look like? Is an end a complete finishing point? If not, what waits ahead?『Finitioni : To an end』 unfolds from a new form of separation experienced by the two artists, Grim Park and Tae Kim. This 'new form of separation' refers to one that results from building relationships in the era of hyper-connection created by development of technology and the online environment. In the face of unprecedented situations that arise on the platforms, we often respond by relying on past experiences due to our poor imagination. However, applying past customs to utterly new experiences does not always bring out the best results. So in what manner should we face a new breakup?
New networks reorganized around social media can be easily connected or disconnected with a single click. In such a system, Grim Park points to the impact of relationships on individuals on social media. Online environments and social media that seem to promise unlimited freedom and two-way communication anytime, anywhere sometimes leave indelible scars on individuals. There are times when one is suddenly notified with an unilateral end of a relationship through an unfollowing or blocking, or when online records disappear that events that happened in reality are overlaid with blankness, as if they never happened. In what manner should we take on such coldness and violence behind social media, and deal with remnants of unresolved feelings and memories that have become vulnerable due to data loss?
Park tries to remove the superficial image that obscures the essence and look at events that have already passed from a different time setting and perspective. Instead of striving to capture and hold on to certain moments, he confronts them by acknowledging the anomalous and constantly changing nature of relationships. In the process, the artist abandons a dichotomous view such as believing in the light and dark, black and white, right and wrong, and rather captures countless gray spots on the borders. As if to prove that what had happened does not vanish just because the data no longer exists or things are not the same anymore, the scratches on the canvas summon up memories of events that we've been through and the black background painted layer on layer front and back encapsulates the accumulated mass of time.
After participating in a cyber funeral and experiencing a moment when the user's body and digital ego are disconnected, Tae Kim spotlights the relationship between players and avatars in online games, and their predestined separation. In an online game, avatars whose players project their egos temporarily gain life while the player is connected. Through customization and designed skin, avatars acquire the player's individuality and taste, and function as a medium for community formation in a non-face-to-face online environment. However, an eternal separation from the player is inevitable for avatars, as human deaths linked to them are also inevitable. Then, is the player's death an eternal end, or a complete liberation, for an avatar that will never be reactivated, existing only as data?
The avatar's life cycle of creation, transformation, termination, and deletion of data resembles the providence of nature. However, the avatars demonstrated in Tae Kim's work wrap both condolence and celebration wreaths around their bodies as if they predicted an upcoming separation, unlike us humans who live on ignoring the fact that we will face the end someday. The Awaiting Condolences series explores the avatar's gaze waiting to be disconnected from the user's body with excitement. When regarding their relationship on the premise of separation, avatars paradoxically become an extension of the user, ultimately reflecting the portrait of modern people, rather than acting as mere alternatives to overcome the limitations of the incomplete body.
The exhibition suggests that we look back on the way we perceive an end through Grim Park and Tae Kim's introspection presented in their work. Just as a new sentence can only begin after placing a period, a new beginning arises only after declaring an end. For those of us who are living towards a finish line, I would like to commend all ends for allowing us to break up with the past and move forward.
Gyusik Lee (Independent Curator)
Press release courtesy THEO.
B1F
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