”Backward Dawn”

03 pm – 05 pm, Wed 11 Oct 2023
ZOOM | Bà Bầu Air
82A Thợ Nhuộm, Trần Hưng Đạo, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội.
Registration link

From the organizer:

This lecture aims to introduce the curatorial practice and the artist’s practice that Moon-seok Yi conceived and experienced through the keyword ‘Logistics.’ To this end, Moon-seok explains the curatorial practice he intends to carry out in the future, “Curatorial as Diplomacy,” and deals with the 2019 project, “Backward Dawn”, which he worked on with Korean artist, Minsu Oh. “Curatorial as Diplomacy” proposes the coordination and exchange of the imaginative possibilities presented by temporary virtual systems that perceive artworks as a type of micronation – political entities that claim to be independent nations despite lacking the full elements of a country. If we view artworks as micronations, artists exchange the limits of free trade, and the increasing risks of bloc formation between nations, and diagnose the values they have experienced within the micronations they have created.

In this regard, Moon-seok introduces Minsu Oh’s sound installation work, “Backward Dawn” (2019). Minsu focuses on a sound that occurs when delivery vehicles reverse in the logistics center where the artist worked. This sound, which periodically repeats in a 21st-century logistics center in Gyeonggi Province, is the melody of a Taiwanese song composed in the era of economic development in the 1970s. The lyrics of this song were taken from a poem written by a philosopher in mainland China during the 1920s when warlords thrived. Through the sound of logistics vehicles moving backward, the artist connects the East Asian logistics and labor environment with its cultural-historical background. Moon-seok would like to introduce artistic practices in which social phenomena and individual senses interlock in the keyword ‘mobility’ and ask about the situation in Vietnam and the Vietnamese art world.

* Language: English
** Maximum number of participants: 20 people (Bà Bầu Air), 100 people (ZOOM)
*** We aim to reduce plastic waste and carbon emissions in our culture and art events, so please bring personal bottles and avoid bringing drinks in disposable cups to the event.

A part of Month of Art Practice – MAP 2023 with the theme ‘Alternative Mobility’.

About guest curator

Moon-seok Yi writes and curates exhibitions delving into representations of the social aspects of mediating nations and individuals in visual art. Since 2019, Yi has developed Against the Dragon Light with curator Eugene Hannah Park in order to share knowledge and resources with (South) East Asian social artists. In 2021, he launched the exhibition space Philosopher’s Stone with curator Seul bi Lee. Yi was project manager for the 11th Seoul Mediacity Biennale “One Escape at a Time” and is currently an assistant curator for the 12th Seoul Mediacity Biennale “THIS TOO, IS A MAP”.

The Lecture is part of Month of Arts Practice, abbreviated as MAP – the annual art project of Heritage Space since 2015. Each year, MAP sets out a specific theme, inviting the participation of internationally acclaimed artists and curators to come to Hanoi (Vietnam) to practice and exchange with talented young Vietnamese artists.
Month of Arts Practice 2023 – the 9th season of MAP – continues with The Alternative Mobility theme. Month of Arts Practice 2023 features the participation of two groups of artists and cultural practitioners in both cities: Hanoi (Vietnam) and Bremen (Germany). Experimental art activities are designed and implemented by both groups in two different cities to reveal dialogues in context, culture, emotion, politics, and artistic expression. Guest curators are invited to observe and conduct seminars, and lectures for all artists. Finally, the results are presented as exhibition and publication in both cities.

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