The curatorial proposal for The Garden of the Imperceptible, the Dutch Pavilion at the 16th Gwangju Biennale, invited audiences to embrace the embodied experience of the imperceptible.
Critically reflecting on how this legacy of attentiveness can become a force of resistance in contemporary times, this project turns to artists based in the Netherlands, whose tender sensibilities and poetic voices attune themselves to the ecologies of the smallest and faintest—engaging with gestures so fragile they elude commodification, practices that refuse a quick glance and instead call for patient attention. These artists invite us to follow detours, linger in shadows, and notice the grain of dust where other worlds breathe. Rather than flooding us with more stimulation and information, these works guide us toward what lies beyond, the barely shifting lights, the multiple shades of the sky....
I was invited to situate my practise in the historic Missionary Wilson's house. The work emerged after weeks of observing the August sky in Gwangju, brought low to the ground by the clouds of the humid summer season. The work that emerged consisted of three attempts to bring encounters with the sky to the second floor of the building. I wanted to invite people into the soft focus of slow observation, and give attention to the light that is already here.
The work creates series of frames, small interventions that establish specific perspectives from which to experience the light. It takes place in relation to the light that is present in the moment of viewing, and is constantly being transformed from moment to moment, drawing our attention to the relationalities that compose our perception and how their affective qualities shape our embodied relationship with the space.
Press for sky
With the push of a button the daily experience of a space is transformed into the sublime.
A small blue button sits on a pedestal, a small text screen invites the audience to Press for Sky. Once pressed, smoke appears for 7 seconds in a semi-contained area, framed by the architecture of the space. The smoke give body and volume to the light, allowing us to see the beams, how it moves through the air and in the spaces surrounding us. Voids are created as the absence of light is given dimension, almost solidity. Over time the smoke drifts through the building, moving the sky through the space. It is then given time to slowly dissipate, to drift out of the building and fade away, clearing the air to return to the daily reality, before the button can be pushed again.
Technical support: Pim Visser
Curator: Collective of Shades - Ingrid Vranken, Shinu Kim, Yonghee Sung Assistant Curator: Sumin Oh, Yujin Han
Co-curated with National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Korea
With support from The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Korea, The Mondriaan Fund, The Performing Arts Fund NL, Stroom The Hague, Médongaule, Space oriented Artistic Practice(SoAP)
