Ottokaji Iroke
Looking at Ottokaji Iroke’s work, you might come to the conclusion that misunderstanding is the default human relation. A ceramic towel reads ‘I said tower’ and a series of mugs deformed beyond recognition is called ‘I said mug, not mud’. Daily watercolours on pee pads continue in the same vein and a video shot in his EKWC bedroom is a rhythmical riff on the distinction between Hamburg and hamburger. For all its humour, Ottokaji Iroke’s play with words, images, sounds and signs often points to an underlying reality of societal tensions. A ceramic Identity Politics Bible is called ‘Ho Lee Fuk’. Trivial observations like the different shapes of croissants in the Oisterwijk supermarkets lead to gold-lustred sculptures referring Nike and the Venus of Willendorf to address thorny questions of food, fitness, success and body image. A word of caution is in order: only the holder of a Universal Passport to the United States of Pizza may safely travel this carefully constructed field of associative meaning.
Yujin Joung (DAE)
South Korea’s younger generations are struggling with impossible demands from society, that severely impact their well-being. Designer Yujin Joung investigated this obsession with perfection within her own family, tracing it to her grandmother’s trauma from Japanese colonial rule. She passed a desire for safety on to Joung’s mother, who grew up in poverty and stressed the importance of success for her daughter to obtain security. At EKWC, Joung press-moulded two enormous vessels based on Korean moon jars, praised for their ‘beautiful imperfections’. The fragile porcelain walls of the jars cracked when she opened the moulds, and each time she tried to mend them, they still continued to fissure and break under their own weight. To Joung, this is symbolic of life’s uncertainties and imperfections: there will always be cracks, no matter how hard you strive. Might as well accept them, and move on.
Junghun Kim
Pollution and destruction, capitalist exploitation and mindless consumption lead to degradation of the natural world, inevitably leaving traces in the human soul as well. In the exhibition Breathe a Mending Song into These Earthly Wounds, artist Junghun Kim summons up the Spirit of Geology to chant the woes of the world from a non-human perspective. Using the vocal technique of traditional Korean pansori, the Spirit emphatically pleads with humans to acknowledge the interconnectedness of everything in nature. The exhibition includes two large sculptures Kim made at EKWC. One incorporates multitudes of species in their future co-evolution, while the other invites the audience to contemplate recorded sounds of the five agents of Wuxing philosophy – wood, fire, earth, metal, water – that constantly interact in cycles of destruction and generation.
Inup Park |2
The works that Korean artist Inup Park made at EKWC are closely related to richness. One piece is basically a block with openings for the artist’s hands and feet, forcing him into an uncomfortable position. Symbols on the surface represent the five Taoist elements – earth, water, metal, wood, fire – that generate and constrain each other. Park made it after a fortune teller predicted he would become rich at 44, suggesting five more years of poverty. Another piece relates to a tarot card reading that said Park would be a bad person if he got rich. It shows several bodies compressed under the weight of the artist, who pictures himself reclining on them. A lavender-grey celadon suggests the colour of cadaverous skin. As test tiles, Park made small figures referencing Korea’s national treasure, and a set of containers for ordinary, cheap instruments of personal hygiene. They look incredibly precious.
