Jongeun PARK, Sangyi Lee
: Exist, Resist, Live
Lien entre toi et moi
The second section of the exhibition “Exist, Resist, Live” deals with the discussion of social minorities. The people on the fringes who have fallen into oblivion, constantly try to prove their existence and resist the society of hate.
Jongeun Park : 1995, Seoul, Student of the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts Montpellier Contemporain (ESBA), her artistic scene is based in Montpellier.
Jongeun Park's works highlight her identity as an Asian queer woman, who is often on the margins of Western, even Eastern, society.
The thoughtless dancer ( 몰지각한 땐스광 in Korean)
In the hard-hitting performance of "The thoughtless dancer: The Queerness / The Korean Independent Man", she denounces all discriminatory acts in reverse of Queer and woman, in the middle of the public and symbolic space in South Korea. She always remains anonymous with her knitted mask.
The thoughtless dancer: The Queerness
Performance video, Music : KIRARA
2019, Seoul
The queer who wears the hanbok, a traditional Korean garment, and the knitted mask walks towards Seoul city hall where the Pride festival takes place, passing by Gwanghwamun where hatred for LGBTQ + is exercised. The improvised movement breaks the silence and the dependent daily life of heterosexual society.
The thoughtless dancer: the independent Korean man
Performance video, Music : KIRARA
2019, Seoul
After the sexual harassment in the indie music arena comes to light, the thoughtless dancer attempts to root out the male cartel by displaying the 'Indie Korean man' stickers. The artist confronts the male system that turns a blind eye to the sexual crime committed within the indie music industry and removes part of his memory with this music.
Corum and me
Photo stickers
2020, Montpellier
“Corum and me” upset the perception of a Corum public place in Montpellier, by visualizing traces of people injured by racism in front of this convention center which is generally considered to be a secure space. This transformation of the outlook on racism makes it possible to see the fear on the part of Asian women in France to recall the feeling of empathy.
Traces of existence
Pencil on the wall
2021, Montpellier
The artist's name fills the white concrete wall. Writing in pencil is to leave traces of it to affirm its existence which permeates itself and is immediately erased by touching it with the finger. The fact of writing the name in pencil resembles, in its material characteristic, the life of a foreigner who must incessantly prove its existence.
The links between you and me
Performance video, installation
2020, Montpellier
The fear of racists and its feeling of non-belonging, which are made visible, is sublimated in “The links between you and me”. The performance of crossing the knitted bridge in his bedroom pays homage to all victims of violence committed at the physical or symbolic border where people differentiate themselves from others. She thus tries to build a symbolic bridge of "connection" between us and you and to extend the theme of solidarity.
Guardian
Black and white photo, sculpture in wood and metal
2021, Montpellier
Jongeun Park's mood is manifested in his work Guardian. She admits the non-membership of her existence in the Western community in a humorous and atypical way. The presentation of her identity overturns traditional Korean culture and outlines, itself, her own place where she can settle.
Speak Listen Write
Book
2021, Montpellier
The book "Speak, Listen, Write" highlights the importance of solidarity by showing several traces of others in their lives: letters, postcards, identity cards, texts. These make it possible to justify the existence of the self by listing the written memories that link life in Korea and life in France. The mixture of these two languages constitutes a labyrinth by the book. The artist invites the spectator to listen to his story, even to participate in this labyrinth game as an actor in his adventure which is called 'life'.
Sangyi Lee : 1999, Daegu, Student at the University of Paris 8, her artistic scene is based in Paris
Locked and loaded
Sound composition, 7min
2021, Paris
※ Please be careful if you have a weak heart
Sangyi Lee's work relies on everyday noise and argument as a tool for transposing sounds of all kinds. During the coronavirus epidemic, everyone suffers regardless of age or gender. It is difficult for all of us to spend 24 hours a day at home during the lockdown, but it is even more difficult for some.
“Stay at home”, the slogan which seems effective to us to fight against the circulation of the virus and to protect us from the current situation, is indeed the capital sentence to the victims of domestic violence. Marked by a family dispute at his young age resulting in a great outburst, this collector of waves then took it into his head to chase the noise of arguments by capturing them with a simple microphone.
Regarding the title “Locked and Loaded”, “Locked” symbolizes being confined and “loaded”, an imminent danger. This work aims to sensitize our indifferent society to vulnerable social groups.
A sequence of footsteps, repeatedly closed doors, the sound of washing hands with water, baby cries, couples arguing, etc., captures the day of a victim of domestic violence in this period of pandemic and containment. In this piece of sound art, the sound of the door has a double meaning, the desire to block out noise and the current confined situation. As this is a global problem, one can hear the sounds of arguments and sound effects in different languages.
Domestic violence, one of the pre-existing social problems that are brought to the fore in a pandemic context, is explicitly addressed.