Yeondoo Jung, Bewitched, 2001 © Yeondoo Jung

My strong impression of Yeondoo Jung came after seeing his solo exhibition 《Heavy or Light, Spectacle in Perspective》 at PLATEAU. For someone like me who had been caught in the prejudice that artists are people who create works immersed in solitary contemplation, his works—created through communication with people—came as quite a shock.
 
After that, I had further opportunities to encounter his works. In 2016, at the exhibition 《Brilliant Memories》 held at the Seoul Museum of Art, Buk-Seoul branch, I saw Between Here and There, which contained the stories of North Korean defectors, and at the exhibition 《Very Public, Very Private: Korean Contemporary Art and Photography since 1989》 at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, I was able to view his work Wonder Land. In 2017, an even more special opportunity arose. At the exhibition 《The World All Around Us: From Kim Whanki to Yang Fudong》 at MMCA Seoul, I saw his video work Cine Magician(2009), and in April I had the chance to participate in the three-day Yeondoo Jung marathon screening at Art Sonje Center.
 
An important characteristic of Yeondoo Jung’s work is his use of diverse media. Although he majored in sculpture, he is a photographer and media artist. In addition, during his time studying abroad he performed performance pieces, and more recently he has exhibited works using cutting-edge media such as VR.
 
Curious about his thoughts on media, I met the artist in person during the 2017 marathon screening and heard his answer directly. He explained that as people’s perceptions change with the flow of the world, he uses media based on the idea that in order to most effectively realize a work, one must follow their perspective. In this sense, I came to think that he may be one of the artists who best expresses contemporaneity. He also said that to work with only one medium would be a way of limiting oneself. If he only took photographs, he would be confined within the frame he set, able to see only the world as a photographer.
 
Then what kinds of works embody such ideas? By dividing his works according to medium and type, let us examine what he ultimately sought to express.
 


Photography Bewitched(2001)

This project, which began in 2001, traveled to 14 countries around the world, asking people about their dreams and realizing those dreams in photographic form. The original work presents photographic images as slide projections that slowly dissolve over 16 seconds. The temporal gap created by the dissolve provides viewers with an experience in which they can actively participate.
 
One day, the artist saw a friend working at a gas station and wondered what dream he truly wished to achieve despite working there. Unable to suppress his curiosity, he rolled down the window and asked him about his dream, and thus the work began. Because the Genie series was created through mutual exchange with people, it is said to be a project to which he feels strong attachment. 

Bewitched, exhibited at the 2003 《Istanbul Biennial》, carries one of the warmest anecdotes. A bank sponsored him at the time, and after being moved by his work, the bank decided to provide full financial support to the model of the piece until his dream was realized. The model’s dream was to become a mathematics teacher, but lacking tuition money, he worked serving tea on the street. The artist has said that it was deeply meaningful that one person’s life changed because of his work.


Yeondoo Jung, Cine Magician, 2001 © Yeondoo Jung

Video + Performance Cine Magician(2009)

The artist created this work inspired by the French filmmaker and magician Georges Méliès. It is both a video work and a documentary record of a performance. Remaining in one place while rotating the camera, the artist adopts a double structure in which the frame captured within the camera and the overall atmosphere of the stage seen by the audience are screened simultaneously. Magician Lee Eunkyeol, widely known to the public, appears in the role of the artist within the work, creating a feeling that is at once familiar and awkward.
 
In Jung’s work, reality and fiction, reality and fantasy consistently appear, and Cine Magician can be said to represent the culmination of that mode of expression. Viewers watching together become aware that the world within the “frame” is filled with tricks, yet they are drawn into those tricks nonetheless. After being screened in Yokohama, the work was performed at the Asia Society in New York in 2009 and later at Sogang University’s Mary Hall in Seoul.
 
VR works that have emerged alongside the development of media have received new attention in the art world. Virgil’s Path(2014) is also a work that employs this medium. It reenacts with real models the numerous figures appearing in Rodin’s masterpiece The Gates of Hell. The artist stages another vision of hell, reborn through his own imagination.
 
This work began when the artist happened to meet a blind masseur in Japan who photographed realities he himself could not see. Jung became interested in the way the masseur perceived the world. Initiated by this encounter, the work allows viewers to experience a non-existent artwork through virtual reality, prompting reflection on the true meaning of “seeing.” Having actually experienced the piece, I felt a subtle and peculiar tension. A viewer wearing the Oculus Rift VR device sees another world, yet to those observing him in the real world, he appears like a blind person unable to see reality.


 
In Closing

The initial charm I felt in Yeondoo Jung’s work was that it “smelled of people.” His constant effort to converse with people and to understand them when creating his works moved me deeply. In that sense, it can be said that for him the “process” is more important than the “result.” As results, his works are filled with dreams and hope. Yet he never places dreams directly into reality. His works express the gap between reality and illusion, and thus while they move us, they also bring a sense of emptiness.
 
Another genuine charm and characteristic of his work is that it is “multi-layered.” He himself has said that he hopes his works will be experienced in a layered way. He wishes to create works that can be felt from a child’s perspective, interpreted from an adult’s perspective, and also hold meaning from the standpoint of an expert.
 
Lastly, I believe that the “media” used in Jung’s work is particularly interesting and significant. Changes in the media enjoyed within society signify shifts in the perceptions that dominate a given era. In this sense, he is absorbing the changes of the world into his works.

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