SPACE May 2024 (No. 678)
Exhibition views of ‘Weaving Relations’ ⓒKim Bokyoung
‘Weaving Relations’ is an exhibition planned by the Seoul Museum of Art for its 2024 exhibition agenda on ‘Architecture’ and institutional theme of ‘Connection’, taking place at the SeMA, Nam-Seoul Museum of Art (hereinafter N-SeMA) from Apr. 10 to July 7. The title ‘Weaving Relations’ derives from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince (1943), encapsulating the exhibition’s core idea of ‘forming relationships’ through architecture. The exhibition begins with a narrative written in the style of a novel, based on the curator’s experience while planning the exhibition and the artists’ work notes, personifying the N-SeMA as the narrator intuitively expresses the theme of relationship-building. Seven participating artists have unraveled the concept what it is to form architectural relationships across a range of mediums including painting, video, sculpture, performance, design, sound, and installation.
Mackerel Safranski’s work begins with physicality and relationships. The painting series Accident of Flesh (2015 – 2017) deals with the secondary body formed in social interactions.
Dhak (2022) is a video piece that explores internal bodily relations, focusing on trauma treatment techniques like Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR) and memories of thunder and lightning. Additionally, the artist plans to sequentially reveal six new pieces capturing the relationship of time with the N-SeMA during the exhibition.
Suh Ziu’s works Momttung-i (2022), the Udukeoni series (2022), and Jahamun (2023) are sculptures combining forms of bunkers, retaining walls, and tunnels, reinterpreting the locality and historicality of old buildings through the lens of a contemporary artist. This exhibition also introduced Kakkesuri (2024), comparing the architectural structure of the N-SeMA to a traditional Korean furniture kakkesuri that is used for storing precious things.
Kim Bong Su drew inspiration from the architecture of the N-SeMA to express the relationship between architecture and humans. His performance piece To Tame and to be Tamed (2024) demonstrates various movements suited to the different spaces where artworks by exhibition participants are displayed, using the body’s centre of gravity and structure.
The sibling duo Doi Jaena (Jung Doi, Jung Jaena) visualised relationality in repetitive connections with their series Circle To Circle : Node (2024), installed to align with the space of the N-SeMA.
Ji Park presented a four-channel sound work using the sounds of the N-SeMA. Sound evokes complex memories and emotions, much like Park was reminded of his apartment in Paris when hearing the wooden floor sounds of the museum. His piece The Gaze of Sound (2024) allows museum sounds to evoke personal memories for each listener.
Ahn Jinseon captured the unease in the city using architectural materials in her installation work. In Urban sculpture study (2024), materials like cement, sand, wood, wire, and rubber sheets are precariously balanced, much like construction materials supporting each other on a building site.
Chon Jaewoo (principal, HYPERSPANDREL) interprets text-based signs installed for order as minimal architectural acts that negotiate territories among people and between people and buildings. His humorous sign Please Understand Our Circumstances Thank You for Your Cooperation Apologies for the Inconvenience (2024) installed in the forecourt of the N-SeMA humorously resolves common control situations encountered in dense urban environments, expanding his domain as an architect advocating for ‘architecture without buildings’.
