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Embeddedness: Artist Films and Videos from Korea 1960s to Now

An interesting collaboration between the KCC, Tate Modern and EXiS (the 10th Experimental Film And Video Festival In Seoul 2015) brings you a collection of Korean artist videos in a series of three two-hour screenings.

Embeddedness: Artist Films and Videos from Korea 1960s to Now

Tate Modern
Friday 18 – Saturday 19 September 2015
Adult £5 Concessions £4 per screening
Official event announcement on Tate Modern website

Kim Ku-lim Leaflet for The Meaning of 1/24 Second (1969)
Kim Ku-lim Leaflet for The Meaning of 1/24 Second (1969). Off-set print.
Courtesy the artist

The first survey in the UK of Korean artists’ films and videos attempts to unwrap the particularity of experimental film and artist moving-image making over five decades from 1960s until now. The series focus on the ways in which artists in South Korea have addressed the intrinsic conditions of cinema – namely duration and the collective viewing experience – and the changing social and political context that have defined the ways artists have been able to work. These screenings will attempt to map the continuities across various generations and the crucial role of artists organisations from the pioneering group AG and work of founding member Ku-lim Kim in the 1960s to the ongoing activities of the EXiS festival that have supported artists practice with film and video in Korea.

Curated by Hangjun Lee (EXiS), with Hyun Jin Cho (KCCUK) and George Clark (Tate Modern).

Organised in collaboration with the Korean Cultural Centre UK, EXiS and supported by LUX.
Tate Film is supported by LUMA foundation

Events in this series

Pioneers: From AG to Kaidu (Friday 18 September 2015, 19.00 – 21.00)
Ecstatic Visions (Saturday 19 September 2015, 16.00 – 18.00)
Artists’ Films Since 2000 (Saturday 19 September 2015, 19.00 – 21.00)

Details follow:

Pioneers: From AG to Kaidu

Tate Modern, Starr Auditorium
Friday 18 September 2015, 19.00 – 21.00
£5, concessions available | Book
Official event announcement on Tate Modern website

Ku-lim Kim The Meaning of 1/24 Second (1969)
Ku-lim Kim The Meaning of 1/24 Second (1969). Film still. Courtesy the artist

The opening programme focuses on pioneering works from the 1960s and 1970s including Kim Ku-lim’s The Meaning of 1/24 Second 1969, considered the first experimental film work from Korea and Lee Ik-tae’s From Morning To Evening 1970, considered the first Korean independent film. Working under restrictive political conditions, state censorship and with limited access to equipment or resources, artists either had to self-organise – through groups such as Avant-Garde (A.G.) and cinepoem coterie 시네·포엠 동인회 1964, The Fourth Group / 4집단 1970 and Moving Image Research Group 映像研究會영상연구회 1973 or work within the academy – such as women’s filmmaker group Kaidu 카이두 founded at the Ewha Womans University in the 1970s.

The Fourth Group aspired to create ‘happenings’, a synthesis of fine art, music, film, theatre and dance. Founded on 20 June 1970 The Fourth Group united a diverse group of from visual artists and filmmakers included Ku-lim Kim, Chan-sung Chong, Ka-ji Bang, Kangja Jung, Kuk-jin Kang, Pong-hyon Choi, Ik-tae Lee, fashion designer Son Il-gwang, journalist Yi Cha-gyong, scriptwriter Kim Chung-ong and the monk Sokyajong. In July 1972 Ik-tae Lee formed the Moving Image Research Forum with Hyun-joo Kim, Hwang-lim Lee and Sang-cheon Park that consisted mainly of university students influenced by French New Wave and New American Cinema. Han Ok-hi and Jeomseon Kim made the experimental films A Hole 1973 and Film 73 1973 that premiered at the fourth screening event organised by Moving Image Research Forum and later they went on to form the Kaidu group of women filmmakers in 1974.

Despite these activities the 1970s proved to be a difficult time for many artists in Korea following the declaration of martial law by the South Korean president Park Chung-hee that lasted from 1972 to 1979. During this time various artists began to turn to performance art as a means of realising work, often utilising film and photography as a medium to record and document their actions. Most prominent in the generation who turned to performance in this period was Lee Kun-yong who realised over 50 performance events between 1975 to 1979.

Followed by discussion with Kim Ku-lim.

Programme

Korean Alphabet
김인태/In-tae Kim, Canada 1967, 16mm colour, sound, 7 min 15 sec

1/24초의 의미/The Meaning of 1/24 Second
김구림/Kim Ku-Lim, Korea 1969, 16mm, color, silent, 11 min

아침과 저녁사이/ From Morning To Evening
이익태 /Lee Ik Tae, Korea 1970, 16mm, black & white, sound, 20 min

Secret Spill
차학경/Teresa Hak Kyung Cha, 1974 USA, video, black and white, sound, 27 min

Event Logical
이건용 / Lee Kun-yong, 1975 Korea, Super 8mm transferred to video, colour, silent, 12 min 10 sec

색동/Color of Korea
한옥희/Han Ok-hi, 1976 Korea, 16mm, colour, sound, 7 min 29 sec

Programme duration: 85 min

Ecstatic Visions

Tate Modern, Starr Auditorium
Saturday 19 September 2015, 16.00 – 18.00
£5, concessions available | Book
Official event announcement on Tate Modern website

Jang Wook Lee Surface of Memory, Memory of Surface (1999)
Jang Wook Lee Surface of Memory, Memory of Surface (1999). Film still. Courtesy the artist

This programme features key works that show the opening up of artists’ film production in Korea following the democratic movements of the 1980s and 90s. Artists featured here arrived at experimental film from a number of different trajectories – as a form of rebellion against conventional film-making or having returned to Korea from studying overseas bringing a new awareness of international art and theory. The 1990s saw the founding of organisations such as the Korean Independent Film Association and the 1st Experimental Film Festival in 1994 held under the title Ecstatic Visions: The Aesthetic of New Media Film.

Programme

Wet Dream
김윤태/Kim Yoon-tae, Korea 1992, 16mm, colour, sound, 15 min

Over Me
임창재/Lim Chang-Jae, Korea 1996,16mm, black and white, sound, 18 min

Swing Diary
이난/Nan Lee, Korea 1996, 16mm, black and white & colour, sound, 13 min

Circulation
박동현/Park Donghyun, Canada/USA 1998-2015, 16mm loop, colour, sound, approx. 4 min

Surface of Memory, Memory on Surface
이장욱/Lee Jang-wook, USA / Korea 1999, 16mm, colour & black and white, silent, 23 min

1998
석성석/Suk, Sung-suk, Germany / Korea 2002, 16mm, black and white / colour, silent, 6 min

Programme duration: 77 min

Artists’ Films Since 2000

Tate Modern, Starr Auditorium
Saturday 19 September 2015, 19.00 – 21.00
£5, concessions available | Book
Official event announcement on Tate Modern website

Heung-soon Im Sung Si (Jeju Symptom and Sign) (2011)
Heung-soon Im Sung Si (Jeju Symptom and Sign) (2011). Film still. Courtesy the artist

This screening celebrates works produced by contemporary Korean artists within a wider global context, featuring films by the generation who came of age during the social and political opening up of Korea and have enjoyed unprecedented opportunities, cultural mobility and technological access. These films reflect on the original concern of early experimental films, yet they are produced and screened within the various new media exhibition platforms of the contemporary Korean and international art world.

Followed by discussion with Im Heung-Soon.

Programme

Forward, Back, Side, Forward Again
조승호/Seoungho Cho, Korea/USA 1995, video, colour, sound, 11 min

파워통로/Power Passage
박찬경/Park Chan-kyong, Korea 2004/2014, 2 channel HD video, colour, sound, 15 min

Overloaded Echo
구동희/Koo Donghee, Korea 2006, video, colour, sound, 8 min

공중정원/The Hanging Garden
정연두/Yeondoo Jung, Korea 2009, HD video, colour, sound, 15 min 56 sec

숭시 Sung Si (Jeju Symptom and Sign)
임흥순/Im Heung-Soon, Korea 2011, HD video, colour, sound 24 min 33 sec

Programme duration: 74 min

(automatically generated) Read LKL’s review of this event here.

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