MMCA Seoul: Julius Popp “bit.fall pulse”

Seoul, November 10, 2015 – September 4, 2016, http://www.mmca.go.kr

A large scale installation by Julius Popp in the central space of MMCA Seoul. The space used to bear the “Hanjin Shipping Box” name and now calls itself “Korean Air Box”. Both Hanjin Shipping and Korean Air actually belong to Hanjin Group, a South Korean conglomerate (chaebol).

The idea of constructing a water-based screen is innovative, but I see it mainly as an engineering task. It is a nice product, which can be used in many different ways. Here, the water based screen is used for displaying random words in random languages sourced from the internet which makes me ask the question: Why? The work is astonishing and creates a sense of wonder, but there is no meaning behind that would allow for a moment of enlightenment once the whole concept of the work unfolds for the visitor.

As I was mentioning previously, I am also put off by the very literal and visible intervention of the sponsoring companies in the selection process. While the new sponsor is Korean Air, Julius Popp’s proposal has obviously been prepared and pitched at a time while the sponsor still was Hanjin Shipping. The containers which form the frame of the work have obviously been added just to get the proposal passed by very unimaginative decision makers.

I expect the next work in the “Korean Air Box” at MMCA to feature sculptures of airplanes or images of clouds, while I mischievously wish it would feature a huge pile of macadamia nuts.