The 7th Seoul International Media Art Biennale
Spell On You
11th September – 4thNovember 2012
Artistic Director: Jinsang Yoo
Curators: Yukiko Shikata, Dooeun Choi, Olof van Winden
The exhibition will question the wider technological means of utilizing the media in the 21st century, and expose the current social and political contexts in which the recent phenomena of Social Networking Services such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have globally surfaced the Internet.
This proposes to imagine a vision for a new world and society in two ways. On the one hand, it will show how the recent production of new technology and social media is generating various renewals in social communication and exchange. On the other hand, it aims to reinterpret art and technology in an attempt to re-envision our future, and find alternative ways of living. Against this background, this exhibition will highlight the notion of a ‘Spell’ to convey active and direct modes of communication. It is hope that ‘Mediacity’ can bring an illuminating insight into the current dynamic shifts in contemporary art and technology.
Jinsang Yoo is a critic and curator based in Seoul. He writes regularly for Contemporary Korean art journals such as “Art in Culture” and “Wolgan Miseul”. Since 2006, he has served as the artistic director of ‘dna: design_network_asia’ (Anyang Art Park, Korea, 2006) and ‘The 1st ASYAAF: Asian Student and Young Artist’s Festival’ (Seoul History Museum, Korea, 2008). He curated numerous exhibitions including ‘On Painting’ (Kukje Gallery, 2007), ‘In Fact, Out Matters’ (Gallery 27, Seoul, 2010), and ‘Abstract It!’ (Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea, 2011). He was a jury for the Joongang Art Competition and sits on board as an evaluating committee for Incheon Art Platform and Gwangju Biennale. Yoo currently lectures at the Kaywon School of Art and Design as a professor of Project Arts. He is the artistic director of Media City Seoul 2012 (The 7th Seoul International Media Art).
Yukiko Shikata is a curator and critic based in Tokyo. She has overseen a number of exhibitions as an associate curator of the Canon ARTLAB (1991-2001), Mori Art Museum (2004-10) and NTT Inter Communication Center [ICC] (2004-2010). Her recent independent media art projects include “Mission G: sensing the earth” (ICC, 2009-10), “Interferenze Seeds Tokyo 2010 Festival”, “Sense Snese” (INDAF, Incheon, Korea), “Polar m” in association with Carsten Nicolai + Marko Pelijhan (Yamaguchi Center for Arts and Media/YCAM, 2010-11). She was a visiting professor at Tokyo Zokei University and Tama Art University. From 2000-2006, she acted as a juror for Prix Art Electronica, UNESCO Digi-Art-Prize and Nam June Paik Award.
Dooeun Choi is the creative director of Art Nabi Center in Seoul and a visiting scholar at Parsons The New School for Design in New York. In 2003, she was appointed as the artistic director of the Uijeongbu International Digital Art Festival: Windows of Communication (Uijeonbu Art Center, Korea). Since 2007, she curated numerous media art exhibitions such as “The Invited Country of ARCO 2007:Intermediae_Minbak (Intermediae, Madrid, Spain)”, “The Media Art Festival Bains Numerique #6” (Centre des art Enghien-les-Bains, France, 2010), and “WAVE, Sense Senses” at INDAF [Incheon International Digitial Art Festival](Tomorrow City, Incheon, Korea). Her ongoing projects include ‘Urban Screen Art Projects: COMO’ which was shown in Korea, Japan, USA and the UK. She is the contributing curator of 2012 Zero 1 Biennial (San Jose, USA).
Olof van Winden has been the founding director of Todays Art Foundation since 2004. Prior to launching Todays Art, Olof initiated the Sound/Vision Festival which was held between 2002-2003. He worked as an International Director of Detroit’s Electronic Music Festival between 2003-2004. In the same year, he established The Generator Foundation from which he organized Todays Art, supporting creative productions of contemporary media art and the performing arts. Olof is a committee for the Department of Art and Culture in Rotterdam and the Mondriaan Foundation. In 2011, Olof became appointed as the managing and artistic director of the Netherlands Media Art Institute (NIMk).