720x 570x 200 cm
steel, strip lights
Plateau, Samsung Museum of Art
Seoul
Jan. 2013
NEON
LIGHT/CONTEMPORARY ART:
Light is a medium widely used in contemporary
art. We are inspired by the/stand of the shoulders of works a giants like Jenny Holzer, Dan Flavin,
Moholo-Nagy, Otto Piene, Piet Mondrian and many more. Jenny Holzers unforgettable work: “Protect me from what I want” on Time
Square, Dan Flavins supprematist influence light sculptures, Moholo-Nagy´s “Space Modulator”, Otto Piene´s “Light Ballet” and Mondrian´s “Broadway Boogie-Woogie”.
WHY
PERFECT?
The letters forming the word P-E-R-F-E-C-T, are a “perfect” choice, for a perfect, meaning
in this case, suitable adaptation to the situation.
We do not judge, we embrace
the given circumstances and adapt to them.
This fluorescent light tube installation is
the second one we did so far.
The first one was “CONCEPTS IN REHAB” was presented at Daegu Photo Biennale 2012 (“Science of Photography”, curated by Young June Lee), for which we did
exhibition design as KIM KIM GALLERY for the first time.
FLUORESCENT
NEON TUBES:
Why does the good old-fashioned Neon Light
appeal to us?
It is neutral and not neutral at all at the
same time. It represent an almost spiritual source of
light, even if we are of quite unspiritual character, as well as a highly
standardized, excessively connotated industrial product.
TITLES/SOME
EXAMPLES:
We are intrigued by titles and use language
in art carefully.
A title is also a work of Art and we give
it special attention because for us it is a transfer of the artwork. We are not at all interested in political
statement, which is a strong political statement, what we mean is that we
refuse the widely spread political paraphrase kitsch.
Our titles: let´s have a closer look at
some of them: “The
early worm, catches the bird.” Derives for example from the Genesis
P-Orridges born Neil Andrew
Megson first in his parents attic, recorded Album from 1968,
entitled “Early Worm”, which was called “the early worm”, but only one copy was ever produced. A
second album, Catching the Bird,
was recorded but never pressed. On of the themes driving the exhibition was “success”, and how it comes in many
different shapes.
“Don´t
Hassel the Hoff”, which was a show we showed in Switzerland and the title
of an installation we showed at Agnes B.
in Paris, driven by the observation of David
Hasselhoff primarily as a neuralgic point in the field of global culture;
he becomes worthy of sculpture not due to an act of condescension from the
supposed heights of cultural commentators, who find the man cutely odd and thus
in some way relevant for a current culture of cute oddness, but due to a
different quality, his exquisite emptiness as a popular figure with at the same
time an extremely exaggerated rhetoricism, his dependable quality as a walking
mise-en-abyme effect. (please not that I am quoting shamelessly from “it all,
indefinite article” by Clemens Kruemmel.)
The title “CONCEPTS IN REHAB” has a more personal origin and refers to a
conversation between us and the curator Claudia
Pestana about the works of Phillip K.
Dick, which are a constant source of inspiration for us. Everything is a matter of perception.
The ground is liable to shift under your feet. A protagonist may find himself
living out another person's dream, or he may enter a drug-induced state that
actually makes better sense than the real world, or he may cross into a
different universe completely, hence the title.
LANDSCAPES:
Combining both their physical origins and the cultural overlay of
human presence, often created over millennia, landscapes reflect the living
synthesis of people and place vital to local and national
identity. Landscapes, their character and quality, help
define the self image of a region, its sense of place that differentiates it
from other regions. It is the dynamic backdrop to people’s lives. The writer Peter Handke uses the landscape images in his stories most widely
to describe the characters of his figures.
PERFECT AGAIN:
“PERFECT”
refers to billboard and publicity being part of contemporary landscape almost
everywhere. and also to the
disappearance of billboards due to media based PR. But it´s also an evaluation,
in this case of perfection. “Perfection”
is, broadly, a state of completeness and flawlessness. The term "perfection" is actually used
to designate a range of diverse, if often kindred, concepts. These concepts have historically been
addressed in a number of discrete disciplines, notably mathematics, physics, chemistry, ethics, aesthetics, (art), ontology, and theology. The notion of perfection has given rise to a singular paradox: that the greatest perfection is
imperfection. Imperfection is perfect in technology, in the sense that
irregularity is useful. This almost perfect light emitter is a juncture between
the material and immaterial world. We refer with “PERFECT” to an social
landscape, the landscape of economy and consumerism, which is more dominant to
the industrialized world than is the natural landscape, but note: we do not
criticize it.
We construct a billboard-like
structure with the word P-E-R-F-E-C-T written with fluorescent tubes of 2
different length constructing the letters. The structure itself is of metal
tubes, to which the neon tubes are fixed. The power supplies are inside a
watertight switch box, fixed to the structure.
김나영 & 그레고리 마스 인터뷰
1. 최근에 일련의 네온사인 작업을 하고 있습니다. 라이트와 선전문구가 결합된 네온사인에 관심을 갖는 이유와 본인들 작업에서의 활용 사례에 대해 알고 싶습니다.
Why does the good old-fashioned
Neon Light appeal to us? It is neutral and not neutral at all at the same time.
It represent an almost spiritual source of light, even if we are of quite
unspiritual character, as well as a highly standardized, excessively connotated
industrial product.
This fluorescent light tube
installation is the second one we did so far.
The first one was “CONCEPTS
IN REHAB” in 2012. The title “CONCEPTS
IN REHAB” has a more personal origin and refers to a
conversation between us and the curator Claudia Pestana about the works of
Phillip K. Dick, which are a constant source of inspiration for us.
Light is a medium widely used
in contemporary art. We are inspired by the/stand of the shoulders of works a giants like Jenny Holzer, Dan Flavin,
Moholo-Nagy, Otto Piene, Piet Mondrian and many more. Jenny Holzer’s unforgettable work: “Protect me from
what I want” on Time Square, Dan Flavins suprematist influence light sculptures, Moholo-Nagy´s “Space Modulator”,
Otto Piene´s “Light Ballet” and Mondrian´s “Broadway
Boogie-Woogie”.
2. 우리가 사는 현대사회 풍경을 “완벽함”이라는 다분히 양가적인 단어 하나로
함축한 이유가 궁금합니다.
Combining
both their physical origins and the cultural overlay of human presence, often
created over millennia, landscapes reflect the living synthesis of people and
place vital to local and national identity. Landscapes, their character and quality, help define the self image of a
region, its sense of place that differentiates it from other regions. It is the
dynamic backdrop to people’s lives. The writer Peter Handke uses the landscape images in his stories
most widely to describe the characters of his figures.“PERFECT” refers to billboard being
part of contemporary landscape almost everywhere, there is no real perfect
landscape, and also to the disappearance of billboard due to media based
publicity. However, it is also an
evaluation of perfection. “Perfection” is, broadly, a state of
completeness and flawlessness. The term "perfection" is actually used to designate a range of
diverse, if often kindred, concepts. These concepts have
historically been addressed in a number of discrete disciplines, notably mathematics, physics, chemistry, ethics, aesthetics, (art), ontology, and theology. The
notion of perfection has given rise to a singular paradox: that the greatest perfection is imperfection. Imperfection is
perfect in technology, in the sense that irregularity is useful. This almost perfect
light emitter is a juncture between the material and immaterial world.
3. 이번 전시에서 두 분에게는 유리건물의 옥외공간이라는 매우 까다로운 전시공간이
주어졌습니다. 단어, 빛, 흰색,
유리관 등의 요소들은 장소특정성을 최대한 반영한 것으로 여겨지는데요, 한정된 장소조건을
어떻게 해석했는지 알려주십시오.
The work is specially
constructed to fit into a rather “special” place in the courtyard of the Plateau. One would
imagine this space rather difficult to deal with, due to reflections and so on.
But we embrace the situation: hence the Title: “ACCEPTANCE”.
The letters forming the word P-E-R-F-E-C-T, are a “perfect” choice, for a perfect, meaning in this case, suitable
adaptation to the situation. We do not judge, we embrace the given circumstances
and adapt to them. We construct a billboard-like
structure with the word P-E-R-F-E-C-T written with neon tubes of 2 different
lengths constructing the letters. The structure itself is of welded metal
tubes, to which the neon tubes are fixed. The power supply is inside a
watertight box, fixed to the structure.
