Comprised of a selection of around 30 pieces from the 23 French Regional Collections of Contemporary Art (a.k.a FRAC), the current show at Cheongdam-dong’s Songeun Art Space will showcase 28 teams of artists from all around the world. Many of the pieces chosen are rather simple in terms of their material choice, with a lot of them being video/graphic art. While the limited budget which the organization was given might have have been the factor (in picking easier pieces to transport halfway around the globe), such lack of diversity is made up for with an overwhelming number artworks on display. The title of the exhibition, What is not visible is not invisible, comes from French artist Julien Discrit's work of the same title.
On the third floor of the exhibition, 3 UV lights will instantly turn on as you walk into the dark room, vaguely exposing a text on the wall which reads, "What is not visible is not invisible." This paradoxical undertone (and theme of the whole exhibition) renders you to rethink and review the way in which you explore the intangible relationship between the abstract, the organic and the structured. A good example of this is artist duo Ariane Michel and Céleste Boursier-Mougenot’s Céleste’s Birds installed on the first floor. The strings on an electric guitar which randomly flicker by birds hopping around and resting on the guitar seem somehow peacefully orchestrated, letting the audience become conscious of their familiarity with systematically devised aspects of music (or any form of art for that matter).
As for the exhibition itself, it seems to be a little overcrowded. The close proximity between the works may lead you to tirelessly find the link between them—which later turns out to be inexistent. It's an environment that's rather distracting, especially when considering certain purposes in viewing art: creating a subjective narrative and personal relation to the artists and their work. Simply put, it was an art overload. Fortunately, though, the efforts of the curators to include interactive pieces allow the audience to take short breaks from the huge influx of crowded information and to indulge themselves in the subject at hand.