The Korean Cultural Centre UK with Art Center Nabi Seoul presents their new exhibition Our Friendly Neighbours, opening Thursday 8 September at the KCC Exhibition space featuring major works by media artists Yiyun Kang, Jinjoon Lee and artist duo Bang & Lee.
The KCCUK has invited three artists working with new media and installation based performances to exhibit works drawing on human-nonhuman ecologies in the metaverse. ‘Our Friendly Neighbours’ focuses on the connection between art, technology, and the environment in a post-pandemic world. During this isolation, the understanding of the neighbourhood has increasingly expanded beyond immediate borders to encompass the global and non-human, with the question of the role of technology as a powerful tool for both connection and control being discussed throughout. Reflecting on the reckless human expansion under hyper-capitalism, the cause of the continuing climate crisis and the pandemic response, the exhibition hones in on the virtual ecologies made and the artificial perceptions of space and time as communities collectively experience the destruction of the planet. ‘Our Friendly Neighbours’ speculates on the dystopian, and yet also the hopeful possibilities for the future in the call to protect our neighbourhood, this earth.
The artists’ responses are site-specific and immersive installations, new works employing large video projections, digital soundscapes and three-dimensional design. Experimenting with technology and large-scale media, the artists intend to transport visitors across concepts of borders and reflect on the shared challenges faced during the pandemic and beyond.
Yiyun Kang’s projection installation ‘Finite 2.0’, originally developed for architectural facades, reflects on the juxtaposition of images of natural landscapes in mega-urban environments as possible tools of engagement of urban communities towards their relationship with nature.
Jinjoon Lee’s series ‘Manufactured Nature – Sun’ continues the artist’s exploration of liminal spaces and further questions how we can explore the relationship between natural and artificial through visual art.
Finally, Bang & Lee’s artwork ‘A place that has no name’ is a continuing series of dystopian landscapes developed from paper sketches to rendered video/sound installations reflecting on possible futures of human settlements within an inhospitable nature that we continue to exploit.