[Exhibition]《Nabi Artist Residency 2019: Re,generation》
[Exhibition] 《Nabi Artist Residency 2019: Re,generation》
Exhibition Duration 2019.11.7. – 2019.12.27.
*The exhibition period has been extended until 27 December, 2019.
Exhibition Venue Art Center Nabi (SK Building 4F, 99 Seorin-dong, Jongro-gu, Seoul, Korea)
Opening Hours 10:00 a.m. ~ 6:00 p.m. (* Closed on Weekend and public holidays)
Entrance Fee Free
Participating Artists Jasper van Loenen, Timo Toots
Partner V2_, Institute for the Unstable Media
Sponsor CROWN GOOSE
Inquiry Curatorial Team 02-2121-0947
Opening Event & Artist Talk
2019.11.7(Thu) 19:00 ~ 20:30
19:00 ~ 19:25 About the Exhibition & Tour
19:30 ~ 19:45 Jasper van Loenen
19:45 ~ 20:00 Timo Toots
20:00 ~ 20:20 Q&A
What to regenerate?
Surrounded by a vast array of technologies, we spend much of our time with them, and the convenience they afford us has become part of our life. And this reliance of ours is now taking the form of ‘trust’. Data analyzes our tastes and enables swift shopping, GPS guides us to the quickest route to our destination in real-time, and A.I speakers console our depressed feelings by playing the customized music for us. The technology that has become so pervasive in our life calls us into a question. We invite you to an opportunity to revise on how we view technology and also ourselves in light of our spectrum of thinking and obligation that has been blunted by the machines.
Nabi Artist Residency 2019: Re,generation is an exhibition that intends to induce the people living in the age of technology to look back at the world through the technology itself. We will introduce the works of 2 participating artists, Jasper van Loenen, and Timo Toots, which bespeak their endless anguish toward the means of ‘regenerating’ and ‘reactivating’ the lives of people living in this digital age.
Jasper van Loenen, who mainly works with open source code, will introduce Esper(2019) which provides visitors with the opportunity to experience and look at the surroundings in our daily lives from various perspectives. The artist intends to reveal the role of technology as a means of ‘communication and understanding’ instead of ‘severance’ to the modern people who look at the smartphone screens more than the landscapes of their surroundings. With the help of technology, he endeavors to expand the environment of our everyday lives that we have been neglecting on and hopes to offer the chance to ponder over the role of technology as a tool for connecting the people.
Timo Toots, who draws inspiration for creation from our ever-changing society in the technological era, will present Memopol-3(2018-2019), an installation artwork that visualizes the data collected from the visitors’ smartphones. It undeceives the people who are blinded by the advantages of technology and therefore fails to recognize serious problems such as data privacy and surveillance issues it can bring about, and at the same time allows the visitors to encounter their digital persona. By analyzing the data from smartphones such as GPS information, calls and text histories, and photos and videos, it displays our actual selves that we ourselves could not notice, and we come to face our beings which data indicates.
Nabi Artist Residency 2019: Re,generation is an exhibition that bespeaks the message that the 2 participating artists would like to convey toward the people of today. With this exhibition, we hope you could have the opportunity to ruminate on the kinds of attitudes we should take in this kaleidoscopic and rapidly developing digital age.
<Artwork Description>
Esper, 2019, Jasper van Loenen
VR (Virtual Reality) installation, 60 WiFi cameras, VR headset.
Esper(2019) is an experimental installation that utilizes VR to create a different type of environment. In the VR space, up to 60 videos float in midair, their positions calibrated in such a way that they reflect the positions of a similar group of 60 cameras that have been placed in the real world. Standing on the floor or hanging from the ceiling, pointing into different directions, back to back or on their own, these cameras register live images of the physical space they are in. By moving through the VR space, these floating videos become windows through which live events in the physical space can be observed.
This work provides visitors with the opportunity to experience and look at the surroundings in our daily lives from various perspectives. Cameras installed in and out of the exhibition space allow us to see and focus on the ambiance and others more closely, and the virtual world that reflects the real world in real-time presents the potential of technology as a tool to connect numerous relationships we face in our everyday life. Via this artwork, the artist intends to reveal the role of technology as a means of ‘communication and understanding’ instead of ‘severance’ to the modern people who look at the smartphone screens more than the landscapes and environments of their surroundings.
Memopol-3, 2018-2019, Timo Toots
Interactive installation.
Memopol-3(2018-2019) is an installation that visualizes visitors’ information field. It’s an Orwellian dystopia which is built on the technology of today. The tools of surveillance economy are abused to create a personal physical surveillance experience. Physical and virtual identities are quantified and processed into a stream of data. After the phases of data collection, the visitor experiences a transcendent reflection of oneself that combines the past and the future, physical and immaterial into an audio-visual ceremony.
This work undeceives the people who are blinded by the advantages of technology and therefore fails to recognize serious problems such as data privacy and surveillance issues it can bring about, and at the same time allows the visitors to encounter their digital persona. By analyzing the data from smartphones such as GPS information, calls and text histories, and photos and videos, it displays our actual selves that we ourselves could not notice, and we come to face our beings which data indicates. Through this artwork, the artist intends to induce the visitors to rethink about the perspectives the modern people have on technology, and questions the kinds of attitudes we take in utilizing the technology.
<About the Artists>
Jasper van Loenen (the Netherlands, b.1987)
Jasper van Loenen is an artist based in Rotterdam who mainly works with open source code and technology. Jasper’s work deals with the relationship between us and the technology we use on a daily basis. His goal is to expose the hidden workings of these technologies and to offer users an insight into the processes and systems that lie below the surface. Through his work he tries to stimulate users to explore and learn about what those systems entail, not because of an aversion against technological progress, but because most of us don’t fully realize in what ways technology is being used by companies and governments, and what decisions and agendas have led to their development. By mastering and critiquing these technologies and using them for new artistic purposes, Jasper reveals the actual significance of these technologies. He studied Interaction Design at the ArtEZ Institute for the Arts in Arnhem, and Networked Media from the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam.
Timo Toots (Estonia, b.1982)
Timo Toots is a new media artist living and working in the south of Estonia. His work is concentrated on researching of, experimenting with and reflecting on the relationships between people, technology and nature. He does not limit the medium of expression, but usually, the outcome takes a form of machines. Toots studied computer science at Tartu University and photography at the Estonian Academy of Arts. His artistic practice combines the new technological wonders with analytical and conceptual properties of photography. He has participated in over 50 exhibitions in Estonia, Europe, Asia and the USA, and in 2012, he won Golden Nica in Interactive Art at Prix Ars Electronica for his work Memopol-2 which deals with individual privacy in the information age.
Chief Curator HyeIn Jeon
Curators YooJin Chung HeeEun Kim
Coordinator Yukyung Chung
Promotion Yeajin Cho Yukyung Chung
Photograph & Video Homan Kwon
Technical Supporter Junho Choi
Design Minju Park