Minds & Matter | Remembering Fragments of Space

“Space considered in isolation is an empty abstraction” – Henri Lefebvre

The innate loop in which people shape their surroundings and in turn are shaped by their environment leaves its traces all throughout this exhibition. In this kind of interplay, Mind cannot be over Matter. With this exhibition, Kang Contemporary showcases the relationships between mental and physical spaces. Focusing on intrusions and intersections, therefore, denying any isolation between Art, Space and People complicates these entities and troubles clarity of interpretation. At the same time, it opens the possibility of discovering a plethora of connections and correlations which are tangent to everyday life. 

Neither art nor artists exist and create in a vacuum. In this exhibition, artists are brought together to show the various ways in which physical and external matter infuses minds. From whimsical observation of changes in the landscape to explorations of the dangerous fascination to own what is outside of human control. As with any long-term relationship the connection between humans and the surrounding world is a complex web of endless experiences and sensations, therefore, this exhibition is just a glimpse into one of the most influential and inconspicuous kinships of human life.

The `qbit to Adam` performance which  Chan Sook Choi created for her show at the MMCA, Seoul explores the remnants of a mummy which was discovered in a copper mine in Chile. The “Copper Man” has been subject to various debates over its ownership. Part of the performance is NFTs which show fragments of the Copper Man. Inscribed in the NFTs are converted memories of the land, these are to be presented to the memories owner.

The soft medium of Annette Cords’ tapestries which refers back to a pre-industrial era collides with the motif of city lights and billboards, concrete, neon signs and graffiti that illustrate today’s urban life. The work suggests that this mundane visual language will naturally become a new artistic tradition. These signs and symbols of modern life are in constant dialogue with the people surrounded by them. The overloaded and layered images are challenging to navigate. 

Wolfram Wickert´s “historic and cultural maps” are inspired by the visual vocabulary of hand-drawn Chinese maps, they depict European and Asian landscapes across several centuries. Historical timelines run parallel and create new landscapes in which long-gone castles,- or 18th century train tracks coexist with nuclear power plants. His artworks visualize the manifold ways in which humans have interfered with spaces and how the land is never free of the imprints of history despite the collective memory fading. 

Jazoo Yang explores construction zones, parks, and abandoned buildings in search of materials for her works. The artist then eternalizes them in resin molds. Her art pieces are memories of buildings and sometimes entire neighborhoods that no longer exist, but used to be vivid clusters of social life. They visualize the constant radical and sometimes brutal change life in the city entails. She assembles this rubble, which is usually seen as a source of irritation and chaos into abstract compositions of colors and shapes.