Curated by Minjung Kim, Goeun Song, Jihyun Shin

Opening Reception: January 24th, Wednesday 6~8 pm
Artist Talk with Curators: Friday, February 2th, 5 pm

Tuesday-Friday 10:30~20:00, Weekend and National holiday 10:30~19:00 / Closed on Monday
DOOSAN Gallery Seoul: 15, Jongno 33-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea

Tel. 02-708-5050

DOOSAN Gallery Seoul is pleased to present the DOOSAN Curator Workshop Exhibition, We are Star Stuff as a part of the Curator Incubating Program, from January 24th to February 24th, 2018. This exhibition is co-curated and organized by the participants of the 7th DOOSAN Curator Workshop: Minjung Kim, Goeun Song and Jihyun Shin.

Voyager 1 was passing by Pluto on February 14th 1990 when it shifted the angel of its telescopic camera to the opposite side. This moment clearly demonstrated the fact that the Earth was nothing more than ‘a pale blue dot,’ through which we came to realize, through our own eyes, the meagre human presence in the vast universe.

The DOOSAN Curator Workshop Exhibition We are Star Stuff began by exploring the endless human activity of gazing up at the night sky and reflecting on the cosmic space. The traces of such activities can be found in the origin of star constellations discovered by the shepherds of Babylonia in 5000 B.C., Hesperus the Greek mythological god of evening star, and the various symbols and expressive methodologies of light and darkness as seen in the ceiling murals in medieval European cathedrals. The star has long been a subject of human inspiration as a natural wonder, religious symbol and a romantic emblem. Meanwhile, the thoughts of the ancient Greek philosophers who attempted to understand the movement of stars became the cornerstone of astronomy science today. In addition, the seasonal changes terms of the location of the constellations were considered decisive points in determining the appropriate time for farming or religious ceremonies. It also functioned as a compass in place of the map and led the sailing voyage of the human civilization.

Why exactly, has the humankind placed such diverse significance on the star? The five artists in this exhibition traverse across the experiences of reality and sensibilities of the imagination, regarding the presence of the stars as material matter itself at times while also understanding it as an abstract concept.

We are Star Stuff asks fundamental questions on the human existence and takes a look at the current human condition, through the works by Dongju Kang, Yunchul Kim, Minha Park, Yooyun Yang and Eun Chun. In this vast cosmic space, our particle-like vision once again directs at the sky. The exhibition hopes for this voyage to an unconquerable space-time, fueled by infinite human imagination, perception and doubt, to generate yet another narrative.

Minha Park explores the illusion and image of human. Shown in the exhibition, the artist’s recent video work Cosmic Kaleidoscope (2018) captures the human illusion of light, dealing with longing for light, star, utopia and movie. Yunchul Kim presents FLARE (2014), a close-shot recording of the special metamaterial he synthesized and developed himself which responds to cosmic particles. The abstract movement observed in the artist’s work impels the imagining of the entropy of a more fundamental matter. His exploration into material seems to draw a metaphor on the organic relationship between the human body and the elements of its composition such as iron, carbon, oxygen and phosphorus, which were produced throughout the 13.8 billion years of cosmic history. Eun Chun’s work The photography is the retina of scholars (2012), which captures the perspectives of amateur astrologists, recomposes the desires for a world beyond the human perception through image and text. Dongju Kang’s work begins by perceiving light and darkness as time and space. Strolling through the city at night, she observes and records in her work the nightscape which changes with time. And through such actions, Kang speaks about the internalized light and darkness. In this exhibition, Yooyun Yang’s paintings depict scenes which we commonly encounter in our everyday reality yet also come across as being unfamiliar. The feelings of unfamiliarity in front of Yang’s work is like looking at this world from the dimension of the universe, deviating from the perspective of right here and now, and looking at ‘this moment’ from diverse points in distance and perspective.

DOOSAN Curator Workshop is designed to guide and support young Korean curators with their professional development. The program selects three curators every year, and organizes contemporary art lectures, workshops, and seminars led by professionals of diverse fields. After the workshop, the three participants are provided with an opportunity to actualize their studies and research by co-organizing an exhibition.