The exhibition “Everyday is Not the Same” in collaboration with BizArt Art Center in Shanghai, China is to introduce Korean young artists to the Chinese audience with the view of activating art interchange among Asian countries, and embody the unique culture of Shanghai with a motif of ‘daily life’. This exhibition is going to be part of the project in which 23 Korean artists research into Shanghai, stay in the city, experience every day life, and express their experiences with their artistic sensibilities. In this project, the exhibition includes two related versions of Shanghai City which are imaginary one and real one.
Curators: Lim Boram, Park Sun Young, Shin Dong Yi, Oh Kyoung Mi
Artists: Kang Sung Eun, Gu Myung Sun, Kim Naum, Kim Mina, Kim Binnara, Moon Sungsic, Moon Jung Ki, Park Mikyung, Park Yeon Hee, Park Jin Young, Suh Bokyung, Song Ho Eun, Oak Jung Ho, Lee Young, Lee Eunu, Lee Ji Hyun, Jeun Jin, Cho Joohyun, Cho Tae Kwang, Cha Young Seok, Choi Ami, Han Seon Uk, Hwang Hye Young,
The artists escape from their existing artwork and life in Seoul into Shanghai, and indulge themselves in the city in their own way. First they build the imaginary Shanghai and explore the daily life of that in their right place through their mind and research. But when they face the reality of ‘real’ Shanghai on the moment of their arrival, they will find the conflicts between the imaginary and real city life. This is going to make the new concept of artworks and inspire the artists as well.
Every day in Shanghai, which is only different from one in Seoul in terms of space, becomes another daily life experienced and memorized as fragments of their life. Their memory and traces of daily life in Shanghai will be documented in the form of artwork on which more sensitive senses and their viewpoints, as those of foreigners, are reflected. While the artists had several workshops on Shanghai and researched into the site for six months in Korea, they, to some degree, developed their imagination and had expectations on the city. Moreover, they gave a concrete form to their ideas about their work and thought about what they are going to produce in advance. However, as part of this project it is interesting to notice the way that their ideas are modified and the artists react to variables and impossibilities during staying in the city. Although they made a thorough research on the site, they might go through a process of trial and error by the limited two weeks’ time of stay. For that reason, their work can be unrefined, but their glittering ideas and improvisatory faculties can be projected onto their work. For young artists, this kind of artistic experience would be influential nourishing elements in their future careers.
The initial idea of the exhibition “Everyday is Not the Same” was inspired by Norwegian artist Jan Christensen’s work, a ’site-specific’ wall painting <Tomorrow Never Comes>(2006). In his work, what he tried to show the audience is quite the contrary to this project. The repetitively transformed phrase “Everyday is the Same. The Same is Everyday,” his sloppily written calligraphy on the wall, reminds the audience of the idea that there is no difference from day to day and every day is just a repetition of our daily routine. However, the exhibition “Everyday is Not the Same” is to disclose everyday affairs and trivial experiential differences dissimilar or sometimes similar to those of Seoul. The artists, especially with distinct sensibilities and viewpoints, look into people who regardless of their being aliens or Chinese reside now in Shanghai, examine their life looking repetitive but really varied, grasp differences and illuminate them anew.
Since the modern age, everyday affairs have newly been recognized as subject matter in art world. Every day repetitive lifestyle such as food, clothing and shelter, the necessities of life, people’s involuntary behavior, talks and attitudes seem to have few effects on our life. However, when we realize that these operate within the contemporary social˙cultural ˙political framework, our daily life is no longer trivial or banal but becomes important as part of a big picture of texturized context.
In this respect, Shanghai is an attractive city worthy of in-depth examination. Shanghai has two sides; on the one hand, since the Opium War, it has been rooted in decadent, feudalistic, and colonial customs as ‘Old Shanghai.’ On the other hand, it is a better and more direct beneficiary city of material civilization, advances in technology, globalization and capitalization than any other one in Asia. Lofty business buildings in Poodong coexist with modern European architecture in Waitan. Meanwhile, the well-off life of the jumped-up wealthy, foreign residents and tourists contrasts with the poverty-stricken one of the lower middle class and laborers. These elements float about and compose the city as a whole. While some artists as ‘flâneurs,’ which Charles Baudelaire talked about, might be attracted by a spectacle of modern and dandy Shanghai, some sensitive artists might not fail to notice the other side of a coin.
The 23 participating artists and 4 curators in this exhibition are individual and the media they are dealing with are various. Thus, the exhibition would present interesting works of art composed of a variety of styles and techniques. Likewise, the theme of daily life in Shanghai, which the individual artists work on, would be variedly presented in the light of their experiences and knowledge, and concurrently reveal comprehensive contemporaneous characteristics. The exhibition “Everyday is Not the Same” is expected to be a feast of the young artists’ art world.
Written by Lee, Kyung-Sook
Edited by Lim, Boram
