Hwayeon Nam's first solo exhibition in Korea, 《Time Mechanics》, showcases the artist's evolving interests from the past one to two years while presenting newly created works in video, sound, and photography that build upon her established performative characteristics. This exhibition provides an in-depth exploration of Nam's artistic world, revealing her unique performative language and formal distinctiveness in perceiving the existence and essence of objects, spaces, and time, as well as the structures of social systems.




Artwork Descriptions


Hwayeon Nam, Field Recording, 2015, video, 7’26” © Hwayeon Nam

This work adopts the method of field recording, traditionally used to collect, classify, and document bird sounds. In this piece, a performer listens to selected bird sounds through headphones from an archive curated by the artist and then imitates these sounds with their own voice. The process of imitation is recorded on video, capturing the transformation of human voice into a mimicry of birdsong.


Hwayeon Nam, Coreen 109, 2014, Video, 11’10” © Hwayeon Nam

This piece was inspired by the artist’s request to view the ancient Korean text “Jikji” labeled as “Coréen 109” at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, where she was only given an internet archive link instead of access to the physical book. This prompted her to collect more digital data related to Jikji from the internet. Through this process, Nam questions whether digital data, which traverses different temporalities, can truly replace the tangible and spatial experience of a physical object.


Hwayeon Nam, Ghost Orchid, 2015, Video, 6’53” © Hwayeon Nam

This video juxtaposes the letters sent by 19th-century orchid hunter Wilhelm Micholitz to his employer Frederick Sander with the movements of a performer imitating the shape of rare orchids at the Berlin-Dahlem Botanic Garden. The work metaphorically critiques humanity's obsessive desire for collecting rare and exotic orchids, overlaying these visual elements with percussive rhythms.


Hwayeon Nam, The Adoration of the Magi, 2015, video, 11’32” © Hwayeon Nam

This video traces the historical journey of Halley's Comet from a religious symbol to a scientific phenomenon. Inspired by the comet painted by Giotto di Bondone in his fresco The Adoration of the Magi, and its later scientific exploration by the European Space Agency’s “Giotto” space probe, the piece delves into humanity's persistent desire for visual knowledge and discovery.


Hwayeon Nam, Ant Time,2014, Photo documentation, 27.5 x 34 cm © Hwayeon Nam

This performance documentation captures the movement of an ant's path traced with a 90 cm long thread, measuring the time of this barely perceptible motion.



Exhibition Space Design

At the entrance of the exhibition, visitors encounter the unfamiliar and eerie sound of human voices imitating birdcalls in the video Field Recording, setting an otherworldly tone. Three video works are presented in the first gallery without partition walls, enhancing the immersive experience. A narrow corridor behind the videos amplifies the uncanny atmosphere as the echoed bird sounds guide visitors towards the final piece, Ant Time, a photographic work documenting minuscule movements and the passage of time.

This exhibition intertwines video, photography, and performance with historical materials, archival footage, and reflections on human desires. Nam's delicate choreography of sound and moving images explores the liminal spaces between past and present, reality and imagination, leading visitors through a synesthetic and immersive total performance experience.

References