작업 소개

국제갤러리에서 진행된 박찬경의 전시 《안녕 安寧 Farewell》과 권영우의 전시 《Various Whites》를 기념하여 따로 진행한 아티스트 인터뷰 영상으로 ‘동양’을 재료로 한 권영우, 박찬경 두 작가의 작업 중심 세계를 엿볼 수 있다.

박찬경은 서구적 근대화와 맹목적인 성장의 추구 속에서 성찰의 기회 없이 앞만 보고 달려온 한국 사회를 주로 냉전, 전통종교 등을 통로로 살펴보는 작업을 해왔다. 이번 전시는 국내에서 5년만에 열리는 박찬경의 개인전으로 3채널 비디오-오디오 <시민의 숲>(2016), 기존의 미술작품을 재구성한 <작은 미술사 1-2>(2014/2017), 사진 슬라이드 프로젝션 <승가사 가는 길>(2017), 전통에 대한 작가의 생각을 요약한 오브제 연작 <밝은 별>(2017), <칠성도>(2017) 등 신작 13여 점을 선보인다.

이번 전시의 대표작 <시민의 숲>은 한 폭의 산수화처럼 펼쳐진 3채널 비디오-오디오 작품으로 한국 근현대사에 대한 비평적인 알레고리이자, 그 격변 속에서 이름 없이 희생된 수많은 사람들에 대한 애도이다. 박찬경은 시인 김수영(1921-1968)의 <거대한 뿌리>(1964)와 화가 오윤(1946-1986)의 미완성작 <원귀도>(1984)에서 영감을 받아 <시민의 숲>을 제작하였고, 이는 두 작품에 대한 작가의 응답이기도 하다. 작가는 <거대한 뿌리>를 전통에 대한 여전히 새롭고 지혜로운 사고로 읽고, <원귀도>를 민중에 대한 민간종교의 풍부한 공감능력에 주목한 선례로 본다.

출처 : 국제갤러리 홈페이지 전시소개글

For MANSHIN, I had a strong sense to make a movie on Shamanic culture, and hoped a large audience would watch it. So it is made a little bit easier to understand, and has a strong educational aspect. I made MANSHIN for mass media, whereas Citizen’s Forest is exhibited within the context of an art gallery. Rather than ‘I hope a lot of people see it, understand it’, I want to freely express my thoughts on history or tradition. In this work, so-called “tradition”, in my term “tradition-reality”, I rather intend to show how “tradition=reality” can be represented through media.

At first I tried to make this work horizontally long, like a panorama. This is mostly because I tried to imitate a traditional “shan-su(landscape)” painting mounted on a scroll. When you spread it, you can see mountains, water, and people drawn on a small scale. We may see this on a flat surface on a fixed scale, but when we perceive it in reality, we can look at the people in a close-up view, zoom in on parts and look more in detail, or look at it in full view. With this in mind, I questioned, what can be the closest form to this in media art?

Perhaps I should call it multi-point perspective in oriental painting. Well, I tried to imitate this aspect a little bit, so I made it horizontally long like a scroll. Therefore in this work all connects to one channel, and at the same time gets divided into three-channels.

The characters in this work areambiguously depicted. Well, holding bamboo spears, wearing farmer’s clothing, carrying something like a hoe. Those scenes are reminiscent of the Donghak Peasant Revolution, and there is also a brass band consisting of soldiers. This image of brass brand is also found in Oh Yoon’s The Lemures, that brings to mind something like military dictatorship or war. Also there are prisoners. The prisoners are wearing something like baskets over their heads. Well, during the Japanese colonial era, and even after the Japanese colonial era, almost until the 60s, prisoners would go on trial wearing those things. So I am referring to some historical points.

But that does not bring out a specific story or anything like that. What I want is to not only indicate a certain historical moment during a particular time, but also to represent the times can be a little mixed up in the image. In fact, when we think about our history, or look back, the images are in reality mixed up inside our minds. So it can be said that it is kind of a nightmare and also like a dream.

For the sound of Citizen’s Forest, I collaborated with the musician Byungjun Kwon. As I said earlier about the scroll, it would be good to hear the sound differently depending on where you look at the work, I thought. So like that multi-point perspective in oriental painting I talked about earlier, I tried to embody that in the sound, technically. After that, rather than dramatic sounds, to be able to listen closely by ear. As a result, the sound is not loud but you can hear lots of little sounds here and there.

Typically movies or videos use sounds that resonate with the image for empathy, while the sound and image move a little separately in this work. So you can experience the sound independently, like sound is sound and image is image. That’s a little different. So even though it is a video work, I’d rather say it is actually closer to video-audio.

Actually, this work was made in 2016, which means the production was completed before the Choi Soon-sil scandal erupted. Looking now, there are a lot of scenes that seem like they were made while going through the incident so people might think so, but in reality that is not the case. It was made before, and rather than the chain of events from the government scandal to impeachment prosecution, it is more related to the Sewol ferry disaster, that is the key story. Because my various thoughts about the Selwol ferry are immersed, ultimately that is not completely unrelated to the Choi Soon-sil scandal. So you cannot say there is no connection, in that respect. In any case it is true the events of the time are very much reflected.

First I hope the audience will enjoy it, and also I wish the work helps to face our reality. Art is something that makes things clear, not obscure, that is art, I think. But when you think about what it means to be clear, maybe it is facing more of what we are going through. Strange as it may sound, I do not really believe in the universality of art. When we say the universality of art, ‘all the international audience should understand an/a (good) artwork by Korean artist’, we think like that, but I do not think so.

We can understand Western art because we know the West relatively well. Because we are influenced by the West a lot. But can Korean art be easily understood by those who do not know Korea well? That is not so. That is why it takes time, and it is built up through a lot of relationships. So I think my work will be better understood by Koreans, and I am embracing this point more positively. And because we are now so westernized, and were modernized too quickly, a lot was lost. Perhaps these aspects can be reflected on a little through this exhibition or my work, I hope.