HRD FINE ART

Introduction

Lumen gallery and HRD Fine Art are delighted to announce a group exhibition themed on video art titled "Echography," jointly held at the two venues in Kyoto.

With a support from Arts Council Korea and curated by Boram Lim, a Seoul-based independent curator, this exhibition showcases the works of video artists Kearnhyung Ahn and Jiin Juen, both from Seoul, Korea, and Tomoki Okamatsu, living in Kumamoto, Japan. Though initially planned to take place in May at Gallery ADO in Kumamoto, the show had to be cancelled due to the Kumamoto Earthquakes, and we decided to realize this project instead in Kyoto. A total of six video works will be presented in the form of wall projection or using TV monitors.

The word "echography" is originally a medical term that refers to a technique to make visible the conditions of unseeable inner organs using the resonance patterns of ultrasonic waves. Illustrious French philosopher Jacques Derrida extended the meaning of this word to connote "identifying the true shape of something unseen/hidden by capturing its echoes or resonance." In line with this extended meaning of "echography," our exhibition tries to figure out the roles and functions of "invisible" elements that surround the “visible” video works. Furthermore, the presented works invite the audience to think about the interaction, or echoes, that happens between the "viewer" and the "images" or the "screen/display."

A moving image can never be a reality itself; it can only be a part of some rebuilt reality, though each element that constitutes the video work may be a record of reality and look all so real. However, when someone watches it, this interaction between the viewer and the image gives birth to new actuality. This can be an advantage inherent to video works, but at the same time there can be a risk of manipulation of reality.

"Echography" aims at providing a field where the audience can see to the echoes and resonance from unseen reality/actuality hidden behind the video screens, while drawing up an "echography" of the relationship between two neighboring countries that are Korea and Japan.