지금, 살아있는 모든 것이 숨쉬고 있다

‘Taipa’ below zero degrees

The exhibition title, "All Living Things are Breathing Now," was derived from an installation work of the identical name presented by KYUN-CHOME. This artwork was part of KYUN-CHOME's solo exhibition from October to December last year, set up in the reed field surrounding the Kurobe City Art Museum. Visitors can view the artwork through glass windows inside the exhibition space, where white letters with the phrase are displayed on wooden panels against a blue background. In an interview, KYUN-CHOME described the nature of this exhibition as “an exhibition of bad ‘Taipa.’” ‘Taipa’ is a newly coined Japanese term, short for ‘time performance,’ referring to the ratio of achievements or effects obtained relative to the time spent. KYUN-CHOME hoped that the ‘Taipa’ of the visitors would dull during their journey to the Kurobe City Art Museum, which takes several hours to reach from Tokyo. The artworks were created during the artists' stay on the warm beaches of Hawaii and the Philippines, including a video of the artist (Eri Honma) sinking into the sea in a praying posture, photographs capturing bubbles rising during this process, drawings depicting the warmth of stones heated by the sun on the sandy beach, installation pieces with T-shirts printed with outdoor drawing images drying on a clothesline, and the aforementioned sign-shaped installation artwork. In addition to the artworks, visitors to the exhibition had the opportunity to engage in various small events. For instance, if they wrote down memories related to ice cream in front of the exhibition hall, they could exchange it for real ice cream. Moreover, at a café about a 40-minute walk from the art museum, visitors could order coffee made from beans collected by the artist from around the world. They could also enjoy small events such as sightseeing the sea near Kurobe City Art Museum, which the artist recommended. These events aimed to provide visitors with moments of utility and enjoyment both inside and outside the exhibition space. Looking ahead, the artist expressed a desire to believe more in the imagination of others, aiming to minimize any guidance or restrictions that could limit imagination. For KYUN-CHOME, who introduces their creative process as a kind of “new prayer,” these activities are steps toward fulfilling the wish of enjoying Kurobe, an outlying area, in a ‘bad taipa’ way. The Seoul exhibition is an extension of this prayer. It is set against environmental conditions that are diametrically opposite. The phrase “Now, Everything Alive Is Breathing” emerges in front of freezing streams and visible breaths, unlike the warmth of Hawaii, the Philippines, and Kurobe depicted in earlier works showcased at the art museum. While this exhibition reflects a more peaceful and meditative nature compared to the artist's previous works that playfully delve into political issues, it aims to demonstrate that it goes beyond portraying romance experienced in a mild environment. Even within the confines of a small space, the hope is that viewers can still enjoy the ‘bad taipa’ time through KYUN-CHOME’s ‘new prayer’ in the midst of freezing temperatures.

Text by Moon-seok Yi

About the artist

KYUN-CHOME is a Japanese artist collective consisting of Eri Homma and Nabuchi, active since 2009. KYUN-CHOME critically examines societal issues frequently encountered in Japanese society, such as gender discrimination, natural disasters, surveillance by governmental institutions, and information inequality. They express awareness of these issues humorously and poetically, transcending specific mediums and genres. Particularly evident in works like Going to Bury a Time Capsule in the Evacuation Area (2011) and Utsusemi Crush!! (2017), the 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami marked a significant turning point in KYUN-CHOME’s artistic endeavors. This event prompted them to question how to resist and remember the incompetence of state power and societal trauma revealed after the disaster.

Additionally, KYUN-CHOME has consistently asked what deficiencies are found today and dealt with how to fill those gaps through interactions with social minorities in Japanese society. Using two types of donuts, the video Making a Perfect Donut (2017-2018) weaves together the perspectives of various stakeholders, including Okinawa’s residents, surrounding the construction of the US naval base in Okinawa. Other works include Until My Voice Dies (2019), where after meeting transgender individuals experiencing ‘gender dysphoria’ due to a mismatch between sex and gender, the artist encourages them to call out their new names fervently until their voices fade. Then, I’m Sage (2019), which captures a transgender person writing an old name in black ink and the new name in red ink above it. These artworks reflect the outcomes of interactions with people in their surroundings. KYUN-CHOME’s artistic practice is not confined to specific genres or mediums, but within it, primitive actions like eating or shouting and everyday actions serve as ingredients and subjects of their work. For instance, the video Like howling to the farther world (2013) began with the whimsical idea of learning to howl like a wolf to communicate with people in the distance during the communication blackout caused by the 2011 Sendai earthquake and tsunami. The installation artwork Laundry Museum (2022-2023) involves washing T-shirts printed with images of artworks, etc., and then hanging them outdoors on days suitable for laundry to create temporary exhibition spaces, actively incorporating actions or the results of those actions into the part of their artwork. KYUN-CHOME describes their artistic practices as resembling the activities of monks who repeatedly performed solitary practices in the mountains and listened to people's stories in the village. In this way, they have continued to document the peripheral existence of society and engaged in activities with these individuals, expressing the results in a cheerful or metaphorical manner. They have held solo exhibitions such as Blue is the Color of the Soul (2023, Kurobe City Art Museum, Toyama) and Taro Okamoto Prize special exhibition (Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum, Tokyo). In group exhibitions, they participated in Roppongi Crossing 2022: Coming & Going (Mori Art Museum, Tokyo), among others. KYUN-CHOME also won the Grand Prize of the 17th Taro Okamoto Art Prize.

@kyunchome

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