Seoul, September 16 – December 15, 2015, https://www.cccc.or.kr/, http://www.aptinstitute.org
Jung Ju An, Je Baak, Sunghun Choi & Sunmin Park, RohwaJeong, Sojung Jun, Lee Nam Lee, Wan Lee, Yongseok Oh, Junebum Park, Ho Yeol Ryu, Shin Kiwoun, Yangachi, Hyun Mi Yoo
Lee Lee Nam
The Creative Center for Convergence Culture is located in Seoul’s Digital Media City, a purpose-built urban cluster for media companies, and inside of CJ E&M Center, CJ E&M being a media company owning numerous TV channels globally and indirectly related to the Lee family (Samsung) empire. The space has a design hotel lobby feel, with different sizes and types of digital display devices, here brought onto another level by including not only sofas and tables for latte sipping and e-mail checking, but also actual high-quality workstations for artists to produce works right there. There is a sound recording studio, a motion capture set, two 4k video editing suites, and maybe something else I overlooked.
The exhibition took place on the different digital screens within the space: Large LCD monitors, a larger-than human curved LED wall and a small screening room. The difficult part was the strong competition between the interior architecture and furniture design and the actual artworks (all video or animation), which took up a position similar to paintings exhibited on the walls of a coffee shop, very different from a gallery/museum white cube.
Except for Lee Lee Nam’s animations (very decorative work) that got their own LCD TVs, most other works have been ‘stacked’ in sequence in the screening room or the large curved LED wall. I managed to see most of Yoo Huyn-Mi’s “A Man Turned into a Painting” video, but missed Oh Yong-seok’s video that followed it. Other artist’s works were arranged on the LED wall and could be played back on demand (by clicking a button on the control screen) and I clicked through works by Park Junebum, An Jungju and Je Baak, but missed Choi Sunghun & Park Sunmin, Jeong Rohwa, Jun Sojung, Lee Wan, Ryu Ho Yeol, Shin Kiwoun and Yangachi.
I guess that in addition to the sequential nature of the display, the abundance of yummy canapes at the opening (located in another room) is also partially responsible for missing so many of the artworks.
An Jungju
Park Junebum
Lee Nam Lee (on TV monitors)
Some shots of the space itself:
