Art shows this week

 

Once a dilapidated neighborhood made up of factories and makeshift shacks during the 1970s, Ihwa Mural Village has since been redeveloped into an outdoor cultural art space, thanks to the beautification efforts of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Stretching from the quintessentially Korean neighborhood of Ihwa to the beautifully manicured Naksan Park, the streets that wind through the somewhat ramshackle residential area are a collection of art installations, sculptures, murals and signboards created by over seventy different artists. The best way to explore this area is by getting lost, which allows visitors to discover some of the more obscure works. The added bonus of great city views make Ihwa worth visiting in the evening as well.

On the last Wed of the month, major art galleries, museums, and national palaces are free. Well, almost. Tickets for DDP and Hangaram Art Museum are half price if you visit after 6pm. Movies, concerts, musicals, street performances, and even sport games are all included in the benefits of "Culture Day." Here are some museums that sport Culture Day, as well as free exhibitions and events. 

How do artists deal with their limitations as human beings while at the same time, try to be gods of their own work? Works may go unsold and critics can be cruel, but the fact that their art is subject to the realities of time and the changing conventions of the art world is what really hurts. The struggle with this fate is the theme of Nam Hwa-yeon’s work in multi-media installations that deal with the human greed for control of time.   “Ghost Orchid” (video, 6min 53sec, 2015) is a video installation that makes reference to The Orchid Thief, a book popular in Belgium and England in the 1990s. The novel is based on the true story of John Laroche and other plant poachers who searched the world for rare orchids. Within Nam Hwa-yeon’s work, she expresses the human obsession with hoarding by disguising herself as a man who dances as if he were this orchid.   “The Adoration of the Magi” (video, 11min 32sec, 2015) reflects on humans as voyeurs. The work zooms in on Giotto’s painting of the Halley’s Comet. The artist observes how nature enlightened Christians of the time, putting their perspective under a scientific light.   Nam yet again attempts to control time in “Ant Time” (27.5 x 34cm, photo documentation, 2014). As a piece of thread chases after an ant’s foot prints, a tangible trace is documented. What is leftover is a remnant of time, captured and visible for the naked eye to behold.   Nam Hwa-yeon often shapes performance into two different kinds of forms: video and...