Germany-based artists' works to be displayed in Seoul

The artworks of Millennial artists, who are based in Germany, will be exhibited in Samcheong-dong, Seoul. The “Arario Gallery Samcheong” will hold a group exhibition entitled, “A Shiver in Search of a Spine” featuring young artists including Sol Calero, 37, Kasia Fudakowski, 34, Petrit Halilaj, 33, and Zora Mann, 40. What makes their works interesting is that they are colorful and fun but bear political message as well.

The “Continuouslessness” is an ongoing installation art series by Fudakowski that initiated in 2011. The panels, which are linked to one another like a screen, can be disassembled and rearranged for different exhibitions. The first panel, “Gender Bender,” satirizes gender distinction by combining different parts that symbolize masculinity and femininity. “A Punishment in Search of a Crime,” a panel most recently added to the series, expresses irrationalities of society, where a country controls and monitors individuals, through old chairs in a station waiting room. The series was exhibited at the 15th Istanbul Biennial, where the Scandinavian artist duo Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset served as curators.

Colorful and attractive works of Calero center on the meaning of Latin America. She borrowed typical and modified images of Latin America to raise a question about the stereotypes on certain country or culture.

Halilaj’s “Alphabet Book” is a large-scale installation art based on scribbles on the desk at a school in war-torn Kosovo. Scribbles by little children are turned into an installation art made of wires as if the work is trying to heal their wounds. Mann’s “Cosmophagy” is two curtains made of discarded plastic flip flops found on the beaches in Kenya.


Min Kim kimmin@donga.com