The exhibition Photography and Media: 4 AM is a photo exhibition that is being held by the Seoul Museum of Art. The Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the Korean Culture and Arts Committee planned the exhibition as part of “The Photo Festival within the Museum of Art.” It will be held as a touring exhibition at four public museums of art (Seoul, Daejeon, Gyeongnam-do, Gwangju) across the nation. This exhibition is held under the title of “The Self of Modern People,” which tend to take on multiple identities in a new media environment. The exhibition showcases not only works of art by photographers, but also videos and installation art by artists, photos by news reporters, and participatory video installation work, which utilizes photos uploaded on SNS.
Under the title of “Photos and Media,” this exhibition uses the self of modern people, which can take on multiple identities in a new media environment, as a theme. This exhibition presents various types of art to reflect the lives of modern people in the media environment. This includes work by photographers (Gu Sangmo, Park Chanmin, Baek Baek Seungwoo, Won Seoyong, Jang Taewon, Jeong Heesung, Han Sungpil); videos and installation art by artists who actively use photo media (Gang Youngmoin, Lee Munho, Lee Sanghyun, Jo Yigyeong, Ha Taebeom); photos by newspaper reporters (Park Jonggeun); and participatory video installation work that has been created by using an unidentifiable number of photos uploaded on SNS (Cha Jiryang)
The subtitle “4AM” does not necessarily mean time, but rather it is a metaphor that means ‘a new dimensional space we step into.’ The concept of ‘4 AM’ is derived from the short novel Mapping in Darkroom, which was published by the writer, Lee Sang, in 1932 under his pen-name Bigu. In the novel, “4 AM” means the moment that the main character meets his self “Lee Sang” when he goes to bed at 4 am. Lee Sang who fell asleep with the light on, goes to the movie, meets girls, goes to a zoo, and to the restroom as he walks between time and space, which cannot be differentiated in terms of whether the events are happening in a real world or in an imaginary world. It is all as if he is spending his day on an imaginary map.
Images, which reflect the lives of modern people the most directly, can be said to be “night” and “light,” as well as “self,” which plays a multiple role within the media environment. In 1932, Lee Sang fall asleep while keeping the fluorescent light on until the early morning hours. In 2014, modern people check their Facebook page or play music videos on YouTube, or look at photos on Instagram and Twitter with the light turned off in a dark room as they rummage through their Smartphones. An imaginary map or “Mapping the Darkroom,” which Lee Sang drew as he went to sleep, has become our reality today.
In the midst of such an environment, the outpouring of information can be read as truth or can be perceived as fake, or can be interpreted as a sort of truth that intentionally attempts to express fiction. However, what is important is that verifying whether the information is true or not is no longer an issue. We now live in a new world where a virtual world and reality, where genuine and fake things, where you and I co-exist in space and time, and where intermixed images and texts themselves have existential value in today’s society. Modern people often experience both isolation and solidarity as they wade through this disorderly space. This exhibition attempts to offer time for viewers to think about the blurred self, memory, scenery, and floating images and about information that cannot be clearly defined or in the state where any such definition is no longer meaningful.
*image (left)
Judith, 2010
inkjet print, 140x190cm
© Moonho Lee
courtesy of the artist and Seoul Museum of Art
