“Asynchronous Singing” Installation view ©ARKO Art Center
The ARKO Art Center presents “Asynchronous Singing” as the first exhibition of this year, on view through June 30. The exhibition is a collaboration between the Gwangju, Busan, and Seoul Cultural Foundation and features 40 works, including new works by 13 artists (teams).
“Asynchronous Singing” is an extension of the Barrier-free International Arts Roundtable 2023 “Barrier-free: On Going,” which was organized by ARKO Art Center in November 2023 in collaboration with the Gwangju, Busan, and Seoul Cultural Foundation, the Goethe-Institut Korea, and the National accessArts Centre in Canada. The exhibition features seven artists (KIM Eunseol, KIM Sunhwan, laumkon, SHIN Suhang x SHIN Hyunchae, Dayoung Yu, and JEON Dongmin) from disability art centers operated by the Gwangju, Busan, and Seoul Cultural Foundation.
The exhibition begins with the question of how to accept the voices of people with disabilities, which are often encountered in Hyehwa Station and Marronnier Park, where the museum is located. In response, the exhibition avoids the use of words and descriptions of artworks that dichotomize disability and non-disability, such as disability art and barrier-free, which have been frequently mentioned in recent years, and seeks to speak through artworks about how to recognize and acknowledge the diversity of individual life pace and time beyond the disabled and non-disabled.
To create a multilayered context for the exhibition, we invited not only disabled artists but also non-disabled artists such as graphic designers and choreographers to participate in the exhibition. The artists focus on creating an exhibition for people with different bodies. The works include sculptures and installations that invite communication through synesthesia and touch, as well as works that analyze institutional accessibility manuals and consider how to explore the possibilities of interaction with disabled subjects, such as dancing with disabled creators.
