Ahn Kyu-chul, Invisible Land of Love

The “Invisible Land of Love” requires the strength of your wrist more than the strength of your visual perspective as participation completes most of the works installed here. Selected for the second annual run of the “MMCA Hyundai Motor Series,” Ahn Kyu-chul summarized his work by saying: “Given the colossal space and generous budget, I wanted to rid the space of showy, spectacle-based works that people expect from this kind of exhibit… and by presenting a cleared-out space, it’s my wish that it becomes filled with the imagination of the participants.” Although Ahn’s known for his one-person homes and a house built from “Abandoned Doors” (2004) found around Seoul, his new works are visually modest and meticulous in contrast. Here, you can write a word or two about on something you miss on the “Wall of Memories” and experience the “Room of Silence” that, according to the artist, is: “edgeless, white, round and soft.” At the heart of these quiet and lonely works is “1,000 Scribes.” As evidenced by the title, it’s a scribing project in which 1,000 select visitors can transcribe parts of Franz Kafka’s Castle and Ismai l Kadare’s Casa del Libro by hand. Fueled by the transcribers’ labor, “1,000 Scribes” does, in a way, switch the role of the artist and the viewer, as those who sign up on Ahn’s website (ill.ahnkyuchul.com) to take part in the project will receive their work in the mail in the form of a novel, all handwritten by people they’ve never met. But if you are just dropping by, you only get to watch—and you may feel left out as a mere viewer.