By Ines Min
The party doesn’t start till they arrive.
The Arko Art Center in Daehangno, central Seoul, is hosting an unusual and progressive exhibition inside their gallery: ``Nomadic Party.’’ Held in coordination with Nine Dragon Heads ― an international art collective that focuses on the relationship between mankind and nature ― the unique show provides a moving timeline of work that visitors are invited to become an audience for.
Twenty-six artists from 14 countries have gathered to participate in the show that features a diversity of found objects, drawings, audio art, installations and outdoor performances created while traveling. Though centered at the Arko Art Center, the exhibition is a literal moving group of artists, who interact with their environment to create new work through cooperation and communication.
After an introductory performance for the exhibition last week, the group, whose nationalities include Korean, Swiss, Croatian and New Zeeland, headed to the Silk Road, toward the Tian Shan Mountains, the Taklamakan Desert and the Gobi Desert. After producing art during their travels in the ``Pao’’ (a cylindrical shelter that serves as a home for the artist nomads), the participants will return to Seoul for an update of their work and final performance.
``We cannot become closer to one another at a fixed, static state,’’ a statement from the exhibition said. ``Therefore, the mixing and crossing over of artists’ works is spread out, including the movement of geopolitical spaces based on the incessant `movements’ at this ‘Nomadic Party.’ ’’
Even within the center’s galleries, boundaries and lines between each artist’s works are blurred. Briton Bruce Allan’s pieces are scattered in three locations, with one image being so unassuming, that this reporter initially walked right past it without realizing it was there.
Though each participant is distinct in their work, the artwork in the first exhibition hall gives a sense of tripping over one another, with viewers transitioning naturally ― albeit at times unexpectedly ― between each artist.
This idea of interconnection is delineated in Allan’s ``Dreaming in Another Language,’’ a compilation of dreams as told by the original dreamer. English translations are provided and sketches of fateful and fantastical tales are recounted in an intimate look into the universal medium of the subconscious.
The second hall features more clearly separated work, with the styles of art vastly different from one to the next.
A scroll of paper serves as a template for hundreds of random objects found while Ursula Stalder journeyed through Europe, Egypt, Korea and Argentina. Stalder plans on adding more objects found in the desert when she returns from the Silk Road.
Sue Callanan created an installation piece made entirely of disposable chopsticks, in a commentary on daily food packaging, serving a single function before being thrown away.
Other works include the beautiful sketches in black paint by Denizhan Ozer from Turkey, Dutch Paul Donker’s photo slideshow of neighborhood children at play in a rural area of China, and Korean Lee Seung-taek’s installation of oversized countenances placed incongruently atop branches.
One downfall of the exhibition, however, is the absence of the artists as they travel the Silk Road. Though the entire point of the show is their excursion, a too-tranquil sense of waiting fills the galleries without them, instilling a faint desire to join the group somewhere in the Gobi. As such, the ``Nomadic Party’’ is probably best viewed on days when the party is actually present.
The traveling artists return to Seoul on Aug. 17, with a comeback ``Nomadic Party’’ with select participants to be held Aug. 19 at 5 p.m. at the Arko Art Center to share their stories and give performances. On Aug. 20, all of the artists who traveled the Silk Road will appear with film producer Kim Hyo-jung for a round table discussion.
The works created by the party will be on display at the art center through Sept. 5. For more information, visit
www.arkoartcenter.or.kr.
