SPACE February 2024 (No. 675)
Installation view of My Neighbour Homeless ©ses
Advances in mobility transportation technology has been one factor that has contributed to greater convenience in our cities. However, does freedom of movement, and therefore the right to access to infrastructure, belong to everyone? ‘Abode without Mobility, Mobility without Abode: Obdradek’, an exhibition addressing the issues faced by the homeless and disabled in terms of (im)mobility, was on display at the Seoul Metro Art Center and KOTE until Dec. 30, 2023. In this exhibition, the curators understand that existence that cannot be reduced to data or numbers as Obdradek, and reflects upon their lives by transforming them into the Commons. At the Seoul Metro Art Center, located within Gyeongbokgung Station on Subway Line 3, seven works reflecting the research and practices of the past were displayed, capturing the footsteps of passersby. For instance, My Neighbour Homeless (2023), which was created by artist Chun Geunsung who lives in Huam-dong near Seoul Station, features videos and objects on a silver foil mat. The project documents how Chun worked with the homeless people he encountered while walking around the neighbourhood, repairing discarded objects. In KOTE, materials archiving two years of research, study, and lectures were exhibited. Among them, human rights activist Byun Jaewon’s lecture ‘Listen to the Opinions of Crutches’ (2022) encouraged the non-disabled to understand accessibility and mobility in a different way by becoming the assistive devices for people with disabilities rather than assuming their perspective. The exhibition suggests that the expansion of sensory perception through a concrete imagination is a means of connecting with the world(s) of others.
