Activating New Plymouth

Art can be used as both a political puppet and independent agent inspiring social change. As the local mayoral elections gear up not only will we notice careful and strategic decisions made by those in power but also signs and billboards of contending hopefuls. These campaign advertisements may seem common and simple enough – but the choices of visual imagery no matter how nondescript are always trying to present a certain perception or attitude to attract voters. Art and politics have a long and alarming historical relationship. Used either to stir up ferverent belonging to revolutionary ideologies or to inspire trust and optimism under oppressive regimes art has - more often than not - been subservient to politics. However, resulting from the social, racial and gender politics from the 1960s to the 1980s new art practices have emerged that resist nationalistic political power. Such new practices have tended to resemble forms of social activism, in-depth research and community based projects rather than the traditions of painting and sculpture.

The new exhibition at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery - Activating Korea: Tides of Collective Action - features South Korean artists and artist collectives many of whom work in these new modes of artistic practice. Acknowledgement of such new artistic practices is significant since – like Soviet Russia of the early 20th century - art in Korea before the 90s was warped by the passionate but singular ideologies of either revolutionary or governmental propaganda.

artwork by Bae Young-whan

For instance, rather than erecting banners to rally supporters some Korean artists have opted for persuasive interventions that draw attention to overlooked social problems. This is apparent in a series of photographs that document a project by artist Bae Young-whan. The project was undertaken in the Chungcheong nam-do province were the roads are too narrow for a sidewalk so children are forced to walk single file too and from school along the road markings. Not surprisingly there has been a high casualty rate. To draw attention to the alarming danger that children are subjected to Bae designed brightly coloured helmets with bubbles on stems (wobbling about a metre above their head) that make their presence visible to motorists. I doubt that Bae’s project solved the problem – at best a temporary band-aid remedy perhaps. It would have however drawn attention to the problem that could only be solved by legislative control of road planning. The helmets would also have made an artistic statement to local motorists. The random assortment of bright colours could be seen as representing the individuality of each child. Likewise the bubbles – being thin membranes that can burst easily – suggest the fragility and dependence of children on adults for protection and care. The bubbles also draw attention to the precariousness of the children’s situation not unlike a balloon blown by the wind. Accompanying the photographs are the actual helmets that visitors are encouraged to wear around the gallery.

New Town Ghost by Minouk Lim
images courtesy of the Govett-Brewster

Other work is more reactionary as apposed to actively trying to solve an issue. One is a video work entitled New Town Ghost by Minouk Lim. The video features two musicians on the back of a small truck driving down the streets of Seoul. The two musicians, a young man pounding aggressive beats on a drum kit and a staunch young woman belting out rap lyrics in Korean. The lyrics - in poetic ambiguity and rife with angst -tell us (via subtitles) about the societal discord and rupture caused by the rapid urban economic development that has taken place in Korea over the past three decades. Which has caused hundreds of thousands of Seoul’s low-income inhabitants to be relocated to make room for industry. The particular redevelopment that this video is staged will be causing the closure of many small businesses only to be colonised by multinational companies. The video footage features the vocalist standing with a militant pose arching her back and clasping a megaphone receiver as if she is commanding the glass towers of corporate wealth to fall. This performance is not a protest rather a random happening that would have taken streets of people by surprise. Furthermore, a protest usually has a singular purpose or message whereas the aims of this performance are deliberately allusive. What is tangible, however, is the emotion of the people that live at the whims of a lustful inhuman machine of corporate power.

This exhibition highlights the many examples (far too many to include in this review) in which artists have freed themselves from political idealism and are challenging societal change within South Korea. Despite the different geographic, historical and cultural context that this exhibition grapples with it also touches on many understandable and relevant concerns of our global age that non-Korean New Zealanders will be able to relate to. Failing that there is plenty of information accompanying this exhibition – a whole gallery space has been dedicated to a reading and research area. If anything this exhibition will definitely activate the knowledge and geopolitical awareness of anyone who walks through the gallery door.

Activating Korea: tides of collective action
closes on 25th November 2007

The Scene in Hamiltopia

In the last 10 years Hamilton has exploded in all directions with new uniform suburban neighbourhoods popping up like clusters of mushrooms after a humid night. It has also grown culturally. Not only does Hamilton hold the infamous hot air balloon festival, show-off themed gardens, holds the National Agricultural Field Days, but in 2008 it will host the V8 Supercar Championship! It’s art scene has also taken off. One of the driving forces behind this is Trust Waikato who sponsors the annual Waikato National Contemporary Art Award and the Waikato Museum of Art and History who hosts and runs the event. Each year the Museum invites a renowned curator to select from over 200 entries and create a list of about 30 finalists that will be exhibited and chose one for the grand prise. Last year it was the Govett-Brewster’s curator of contemporary art Mercedes Vicente, this year it was Dr Leonhard Emmerling, curator of St Paul Street Gallery in Auckland. What the Trust and Museum have cottoned onto is that art doesn’t have to be pretty to captivate us. What matters is that it hits a truth about our lives or existence. For instance, the wining artwork of this year’s award is far from pleasant, down right depressing in fact but it nevertheless gives considerable insight into a common national state of mind.

The work is entitled Resonance by artist Boris Dornbusch and visually doesn’t comprise of anything remarkable, so much so that I didn’t see any point printing a photo of it with this article. Rather the significance of this work is the experience of it. A mans voice Emanates from an old stereo speaker that is sitting on the ground. The voice is that of a anonymous 25 year old man who, as if he is going through a premature midlife crisis, talks about having an unfulfilling job, miffed with the direction of his life, torn between other peoples expectations of him and pursuing his heartfelt dreams. The man also divulges his sincere but hopeless lamentations of New Zealand society and its apparent downward spiral.

A short distance from the speaker is a plinth displaying strangled and kneaded lumps of clay made by the man whilst listening to the recorded interview as if part of some psychological therapy. The strange amorphous objects have the appearance of his mental state in physical form. The clay has been fired and coated in a black gloss enamel paint so visitors can place their hands in his finger marks. I handled the forms tentatively, strangely worried that I might be haunted by this man’s unfortunate state of mind. Listening and interacting with this work puts the viewer in the position of the therapist to make ones own judgement or analysis of his words and emotive expression left in the clay. We have all heard the concerning suicide and depression statistics revealing that this level of disillusionment and despair is common in New Zealand. So even though it is sad to experience, this work ignites many important questions about the societal and cultural ills of our nation. For instance: What do New Zealanders expect to get from life? Why, in a developed and relatively safe country where there is plenty of possibilities for an enriching life, do so many people suffer from such disillusionment?

Other works in the exhibition also pick up on distinct elements of New Zealand culture and identity issues. The most significant of these for me was Geln Hayward’s work entitled Dave’s Big Brain. It is a goats scull carved out of kauri, painted mostly white and on the forehead is a naive biro drawing of a V8 Cleveland motor. The work demonstrates meticulous skill to replicate the scull in perfect detail and proportion (before I read the wall label I thought it was a real skull). It also boasts a fond disregard of conventional taste. For a lot of New Zealanders to paint kauri is a shameful waste of beautiful native wood. Let alone scrawling on it in biro pen like a teenager would graffiti on a school desktop. Looking past its craft the work is also powerfully symbolic. To carve the scull of a lowly introduced pest out of a piece of prised native wood and then painting it so that the identification of the wood is denied could be symbolic of the ecological ramifications of colonialism. The biro drawing adds another level of meaning. The drawing for me distinctly references working-class Caucasian ‘bogan’ culture which gives the colonialist reading a contemporary resonance. A critique of a redneck stereotype/attitude that has survived from colonial times perhaps.

The art award shares some thematic similarities with another exhibition at the Waikato Museum called Existence. Also worth seeing in town is Ramp Gallery at the Waikato Institute of Technology. So when you are next in the great Hamilton for a sports event or spot of department store shopping, complete your cultural experience by digesting a bit of art.