People / Interview

Donghee Koo - Contemporary art was one of us after all

posted 11 Oct 2019

Donghee Koo. ⓒArt Sonje Center. Photoⓒ Heungkyu Kim

Donghee Koo. ⓒArt Sonje Center. Photo ⓒHeungkyu Kim

Donghee Koo's solo exhibition 《Delivery》 (7.20~9.1) was held at Art Sonje Center. The artist who has been creating works associated with senses that are derived from ordinary aspects using a variety of media, focused on the theme of 'delivery' this time. Pizza, chicken, or jajangmyeon used to be standard choices for delivery, but now people can have almost everything delivered. Having food delivered has become so common. What you click on your smartphone comes right at your front door. By varying the senses associated with 'delivery' and 'shipping' that are transforming our lives, Donghee Koo has transformed the space of the Art Sonje Center itself. Although her work gathers up elements that stay close to our lives and gives them a humorous twist, notions triggered by it seem to reach the sharp subjects about the sense of time and space. Centered on her new work, the interview with the artist explores her art from her concerns about previous works and the process of creation to details of exhibition space.

Installation view of 《Delivery》. ⓒArt Sonje Center.

I would, first, ask you about preparation for this exhibition. I see you mentioned 〈Way of Replay〉 (2014) for 《Korea Art Prize》 (2014) and 〈Way of Replay II (off peak)〉 (2017) in the foreword for Sharjah Biennial. Is this because you kept in mind your past works as you prepare for the new work?

《Delivery》 is not directly related to past works. It is similar in the way that it is a large-scale installation work that is involved in the entire exhibition space, but I hardly referred to 〈Way of Replay〉. The work for 《Korea Art Prize》 at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, especially, emphasized commentary on the system of the 《Korea Art Prize》, so it's difficult to relate that work to others. Of course, how I take the situation itself as a work element is similar, where the physical space is given first, then I start to create a work.

As you said, recognizing the shape, architectural elements, or context of the place of the given space for exhibition in a specific way and integrating it into a work seem to be a critical aspect of your installation. For instance, in 〈Way of Replay〉, by connecting the space of Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon with the roller coaster of Children's Grand Park Station, you intersected the decontextualized white cute with the context of the place of Gwagheon. I would like to hear how you make such a connection.

I don't take the procedure of completing a work at my studio, then displaying it in exhibition space. I can't afford a studio of large size in the first place. When I work for an installation work in a huge space, I start by imagining, sitting in front of a computer. Most times, a floor plan of exhibition space is the first thing I get, so it often gives the initial clue for a work. I keep simulating what and how I can show in a space as I look at the floor plan. It's quite immaterial process. Thus, it is an important step to carefully examine the condition for realizing what I have imagined before installing a work in the actual space, whether it's a physical or site problem. Since installation work is fundamentally different from works hung on a wall, architectural structure itself can be a medium and condition of a work. I also examine the existing conditions of the space such as the way that the interior and exterior are connected, where emergency exits are located, how to get to the restroom. For the composition of work, I usually think of what kind of spatial change would make people sense it differently. It requires preliminary research of surrounding places of the exhibition space. I can't, however, say that I take account of site-specificity.

It's interesting that you emphasize computer simulation as a creation procedure. Do you perform modeling for everything you would show at an exhibition? What program do you use?

Due to some restrictions within the system and conditions of the art exhibition, modeling needs to be meticulous to carry out proper realization at the actual production level. I recently became aware of the impact of computer-based free production on formativeness of the final work. Realizing exactly what appears on the computer is not the point. And, when I make a temporary structure like this time, I sometimes go through the process of simplification as I bring out the drawing from the computer into physical reality. About modeling tools, I use 'Sketch-up' for the audience's viewing spot or straight-line composition, and 'Rhino' for subjects for which change in curved-surface or axis occurs. Rhino is appropriate for delicate objects that are grabbable, while Sketch-up is for organizing and arranging space. At a certain point, I use both tools at the same time. Although the spatial and architectural scale and that of something grabbable belong to different visual systems, I sometimes, in the process, feel the desire to freely control both sides.

Installation view of 《Delivery》. ⓒArt Sonje Center.

In the case of 〈Double〉 (2018) of 《Genre Allegory - The Sculptural》 at Total Museum of Contemporary Art, I saw it intriguing that the identity(?) of a 'sculptor without a studio' was formally revealed. Can the attitude itself be read as a commentary on the context of the city of Seoul or the convention of production of the time?

I didn't intend to make it so profound. It happens to seem like that during the course. I rather consider the system of the exhibition, physical condition, and the length of time that works can exist before and after the exhibition. I wonder the cultural background is still effective, where the physical amount of time for an official view of works at a given space is commonly set as a month to three months. I am also interested in the relationship of the permanent structure and the supplementary elements such as packing materials, shipping, insurance that protect the object of certain mass and volume in accordance with the given circumstances. The structure of twisting a viewpoint or senses while temporarily inhabiting space and the process before and after that are more important factors to my work than creating permanent work.

Comparing Art Sonje Center to pizza in this work seems to be a new way that wasn't seen in your past works. What factors were considered for the spatial composition of 《Delivery》?

For 《Delivery》, I considered the formal similarity important that the floor plan of Art Sonje Center resembles a pizza, but, as its title reveals, the key concept from which this work is derived is 'delivery, shipping.' I look for the motive of creation or related forms from ordinary matters. Having something delivered has become a common thing, but we can barely see what happens in between delivery. I thought of senses such as movement, path, and velocity that occur in the process of delivery. And I designed a space where a change of the derived senses occurs. Therefore, I paid extra attention to compart the path of viewing. As audiences enter the space, they face a crossroad, and not only at the entrance but the entire path is made to be taken slow. I wanted a space where people cannot just take a glance. I aimed that each audience forms a different memory from viewing through the non-linear path. The architectural height is quite interesting, and the difference in scale between the spatial composition and the small objects seems to be highlighted. I led audiences to find objects on a relatively small scale while moving through the architectural scale, and there are also exaggerated three-dimensional objects as hybrids of those two factors. Physical movement is often relatively perceived through objects located on the way. I thought of the intersection of a sense of seeing something and a sense of doing something. I aimed to show halfway of experiencing the circumstance itself and looking into something though this exhibition.

Could you elaborate a little on the relationship between 'to experience' and 'to see'?

I am attracted to the moment when those two are unconsciously converted. Actually, experience and observation are relative matters just as a shift of perspective. It's associated with the relationship of the viewer and object, whether the object is coming to the viewer or vice versa. There are common rules for viewing exhibitions. Traditional media such as paintings or sculptures are usually objects of contemplation. In that case, viewing an exhibition is associated with the sense of looking at specific objects in a space rather than space itself. For my work, I attempted to mix 'to experience a circumstance' and 'to look at something' by employing a new way. The form of making people accidentally see something during the course of moving their bodies is connected to those concerns. Moreover, I thought of things like pseudo-architecture, pseudo-sculpture, and pseudo-structure. I create a gap in a way that, one part is perceived as it is, but somewhere inside the part invites audiences to look more into it. Temporary walls or paths that compart the space are converted into pedestals or pseudo-counter that objectifies something, or there are points where audiences bend down to look at objects on the ground from the perspective of elevated status. Sometimes, I intentionally make something very trivial to look like treasure.

Is the video on the wall of the exhibition entrance or the video projected on the innermost emergency exit associated with the method that you just explained?

The videos shown at this exhibition are in a different context from when I only presented single-channel videos. For previous videos, I employed the way that images move on the screen, but this time, videos are located within the installation, functioning as a part of the whole view. The video at the entrance is about the moment when the object of delivery is handed to the receiver and the perspective of the delivered object. I captured the view of inside the refrigerator where it is stored and packing boxes that are considered home from its perspective. I put the image at the entrance of the exhibition hall so that the view seen from the inside of a small space is connected to the actual exhibition space. Rather than having a narrative, the video continues with rhythmical repetition of movement in which other spaces with door keep opening and closing, foods are coming in and out, appearing and disappearing. At one point, such rhythm felt like the sound of a motorcycle engine, so I put the video at the entrance of the exhibition hall where the show begins. At the emergency exit inside, the video showing the perspective of a delivery man riding a motorcycle is played. The emergency exit of the space is actually for staff only, but I extended the path to reality outside the exhibition hall by projecting the video on the door.

A still image of a video at 《Delivery》. ⓒArt Sonje Center.

I would also like to discuss the speed, time and space derived from the theme of delivery.

Perceiving speed is a relative issue. I would think of a sense of time before the advent of clocks. We live in a world that encourages us to rely on visual information to sense the progress of time. I often bring together temporality and spatiality, and when I approach that concept with images, many of my works are introduced by being put on the temporary time track. To make it work, either the work moves or the audience moves. On the one hand, if there is any abstract periodicity on the base, I sometimes turn that other way around. If it has fast speed, for instance, I make it slow down. Some people take 《Delivery》 as a representation of the society of speed symbolized by delivery culture, but, on the contrary, what I had in mind was to stretch the speed with the means of exhibition. It might seem analogous in form, but the relative senses such as speed are distorted.

Detail view of 《Delivery》. ⓒArt Sonje Center.

The structures made with cat-scratcher at the entrance seem to be disengaged from the overall architectural structure. Why is that?

I gave those a nickname of ‘topping towers.’ Those are the only objects that receive natural light. Cat-scratchers are where cats scratch or rub with their toenails, and the fact that those ready-made cat-scratchers have various forms of the curved surface was interesting. I wondered why, but then I assumed it is related to cats’ distinct physical characteristics. The forms are specifically designed for cats’ behavior of pressing with their toes, rubbing their bodies, or scratching with their toenails. I thought integrating this aspect to my work could make something intriguing, so I made piles of cat-scratchers as if they were toppings on a pizza. It is a significant factor that although I accumulated the same material with cardboard boxes, it has a fragmented form with a different unit. When I first encountered the empty galleries of Art Sonje Center, I imagined a crowd of people confined in a pizza box or monumental foods, so, initially, I was going to paint the entire space with a color that evokes the image of cardboard boxes. But eventually, I chose a brighter color, considering the size of the space, which turned the space into a foundation no. 21 for bridal makeup (everybody chuckles). The entire structure happened to resemble cat towers on a human scale.

Detail view of 《Delivery》. ⓒArt Sonje Center.

What I found most interesting was the section where I have to look up the installation mixed of clocks, a mirror, and the floor plan because it reminds me of your past works. Right in front of that section, you also put a single-sided mirror. To me, that space looked like the point of caption for the whole exhibition.

The reason I used the single-sided mirror was to avoid making the structure of the space conspicuous and to cancel out its narrowness. I came up with the idea of time difference where I install the mirror on the bottom half of the corner wall in the hallway which would make the audience sense the whole by seeing only a part of it. The audience can’t see the whole structure at any point. It’s not any different on the very top part where the peeing boy and the phone number are. The only place that allows the audience to get the whole picture is the mirror that reflects them and where they should look up like a map. Even that takes the form of bearings or arc. For my work, I sometimes attempt to reverse the inside and outside, or to adopt the part of the suspicious effect that only move with the skin without any content or the environment that make a work relative. I included the element of a clock to allow a perception of the space from above. From the movement of the clock, the audience can recall the time of the space that embraced the exhibition, or they can see it as the time before and after eating food. The rotation axis of the clock indicates the relative position of the person who looks at it. This device resembles the checkerboard from "Way of Replay." The floor plan reminds the audience of what they have viewed or where they have passed by. Some spots are hidden or twisted, so the audience can discover what they have missed. From the viewer's perspective, they can see more things. For instance, where the figure of a woman is put is a bite of a pizza slice, which the audience couldn't see when they look directly at the giant pizza structure.

As you mention hidden objects, I recall that I found candies all over the space. On the candies were written ‘not for sale.'

I don’t regard people’s act of taking candies as part of the work at all. I couldn’t stay at the exhibition all day, so I prepared a sort of ‘chance gift’ for the rude audience. I would hide something at other exhibitions from time to time. The act of hiding something sweet at an invisible place is, to me, similar to waiting to meet the unknown audience. I intentionally add an element of confusion that makes people hesitate to open it. I provide options that audiences choose from by integrating the objects to be looked up and pseudo-stairway where they physically engage.

Moreover, there are some egg objects all over the space. Those can be related to chicken, the most popular delivery food, but those also look like easter eggs that are hidden by game developers. It’s fun to make people get confused by hiding easter eggs that they can't be sure whether it’s an error or intended that way.

I enjoy creating space that is certainly presented but doesn’t work. It’s in line with making people travel up and down the pointless stairway. It can be compared to a pedestal put upside down that has nothing on it. I also include a factor that postpones the act of distinguishing works. I eliminate a functional part in that way. There is no context in the message "Leave outside the front door if not at home" that rings at the stairway when an object is detected. People have no clue what and whom this message is for, who's not at home or what has to be left outside the front door. Rather, the alarm acts as a safety warning that prevents people from losing a step. It made the subjects of the act of sending and receiving become ambiguously overlapped signs. As the target of calling is not specified due to the context of actual space, there are several possibilities for the audience. The egg objects can be extended to the popular delivery item chicken, the chicken and egg problem which symbolizes the cause-and-effect relationship, or the desire for achievement such as collecting stamps for free chicken. As you remarked, it may be related to easter eggs at some point.

Is there anything you would like to add?

It came out to be a high-calories exhibition (chuckle). You know, the strange behavior when I am full but end up eating again. I just wanted to work on the primary desire which is not too pedantic nor intellectual. I felt the need to closely deal with the object of universal desire that travels through the mouth. I put on some weight from having food delivered often while working on this exhibition. Maybe I should lose some of that before the semester begins (everybody chuckles).