Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Here are a few photos and a video from the two performances of Young In Hong’s work 5100: Pentagon on 4 June 2017 in the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly. The performers were all volunteers, of whom fewer turned up than expected because of the terrorist incident in the London bridge area the night before.
The movements of the performers were inspired by video footage of the Gwangju massacre in South Korea in May 1980.
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
Young In Hong: 5100 – Pentagon. Royal Academy of Arts, 4 June 2017
One of the most effective things about the work is that the performers appeared from out of nowhere, gradually emerging from the crowd to take their positions in the square. It was as if any one of us could have been in Gwangju. And after the performance the players seemed to vanish back into nothingness, as if the Gwangju story is continuing into the present and future.
