Venue: MMCA Seoul

MMCA Film & Video (MFV) presented the Asian Film and Video Art Forum (AFVAF) in collaboration with Hand-made film lab SPACE CELL in 2015. The first edition of AFVAF was co-curated by seven curators in Asia to introduce works by artists based in Asia and to seek original discussions. The participating curators decided that there was no necessary reason to bring together films or moving images under the name of the Asian continent on the grounds of regional affinity. However, we also had to admit that there was indeed, although intangible, a sense of similarity among the artists. With the ambitions of the curators who are willing to introduce and share the currents in Asian film and video art, MFV decided to host this forum as a biennial program with anticipation of developing it into a sustained field of discourse.

In 2016, MFV and Hitomi Hasegawa, the director of MIACA(Moving Image Archive of Contemporary Art) and curator agreed to co-curate the second edition of AFVAF. Hitomi Hasegawa examined how films deliberate and reflect the acute and urgent problems that humanity, rather than artificially identified local communities, faces. Despite differences in historical, social, and political conditions within Asia, young artists carry the agony of humanity on their shoulder, unfolding on-going silent rebellion. In this respect, Hitomi Hasegawa’s suggestion——demands us to ask once more a long-standing question of what artistic engagements are through artistic media and gestures. Three curators—Xin Zhou, Inti Guerrero, Wiwat Lertwiwatwongsa—have joined the forum to introduce significant works that they have discovered.

It’s been told that the origin of the word ‘Asia’ is from a figure in Greek mythology by the same name. Asia in ancient times was a huge land mass, and thus the Greek name ‘Asia’ reflects a broad concept of regional contrast to Greece and Egypt in terms of history. From ancient eras to the present day, there clearly have been societies and political affairs that can be recognized as ‘Asia.’ Employed at times as a buzzword with unclear boundaries and implications, there are indeed invisible points of connection between the neighboring histories. Such conjunctures require close examination not on a make-believe concept of the Asian community but on the regional reality of Asia. Films and moving images from Asian regions, with histories burdened with shades of imperialism, consequences of dictatorship, and the wounds of civil war, reflect their societies and politics, at times with a voice of solidarity, and at times in the modes of guerrillas or specters. The second edition of AFVAF introduces various attempts, ranging from films as acts of resistance for the sake of negating and destroying the unjustifiable, to works suggesting a potential of another means of participation through aesthetic forms that strive to get as close as possible to reality. Unfortunately, we could not afford to introduce works from all Asian countries, a grand continent with the largest population in the world. The program is led by a limited group of five curators, born or based in Korea, Japan, China, Hong Kong, and Thailand.

Curators
Kim Eunhee, Hitomi Hasegawa

Co-Curators
Inti Guerrero, Xin Zhou, Wiwat Lertwiwatwongsa

Artists
Chim↑Pom, Kyun-Chome, Li Binyuan, Fujiko Nakaya, Hikaru Fujii, Moe Satt, Li Xiaofei, Chang Chao-Tang, Hakudo Kobayashi, Yuji Morioka, Kavich Neang, Chen Chieh-jen, Yau Ching, Anand Patwardhan, Peter Kennedy, John Hughes, Phil Collins, Richard Fung, Wang Bing, Chen Zhou, Zhu Shengze, George Clark, Au Sow-Yee, Chia-Wei Hsu, Hao Jing Ban, Mok Chiu-Yu, Li Ching, Nontawat Numbenchapol, Paijong Laisagoon, Euthana Mukdasanit, Pimpaka Towira, Nguyen Trinh Thi, Wattanapume Laisuwanchai, Nok Paksnavin, Nutcha Tantivitayapitak, Jung Yoonsuk, Kim Il-rhan, Lee Hyuk-sang, Gina Kim, Sylbee Kim, Cha Jeamin, Kang Sang-woo, Jang Minseung

 

+https://www.mmca.go.kr/eng/exhibitions/exhibitionsDetail.do?menuId=1010000000&exhId=201708210000617