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Saturday, August 28, 2010

Day 51

Jeff Schmuki  -- Residency Statement                         Seoul Art Space - Geumcheon

Seoul Art Space Geumcheon first attracted my attention in its aim to breathe new life into forgotten spaces--spaces that have been left behind in the wake of city development programs and urban decay. By turning the spoils of urban development into venues for artistic expression, empty factories and old buildings are revitalized, providing artists with much needed studio space.  This regeneration also facilitates interaction between artists and local residents in an under-served area.  Resident artists and area residents can work together to make a work of art, and in the process build a greater understanding of one another and their community.

This idea of revitalization or regeneration is central to my work as an artist.  In researching and exploring the Geumcheon area, I am struck by the hard working character of the people coming and going to the numerous factories within this mixed-use urban area.   From the streets, I easily find discarded commercial products such as silk thread, air filters, and nylon tubing that I refashion into a new purpose.

The projects carried out during my residency here at SASG explore themes of landscape and environmentalism, as well as sustainable living and working practices.  Combining Korean food plants and recycled materials with video and performance, I address how fixed beliefs about our environment and long-term sustainability must give way to imaginative alternatives.  In doing so, the art studio becomes a research laboratory where silk thread sand air filters serve as hydroponic structures for plant growth, allowing food to be grown in places where ordinary agriculture or gardening is impossible.

As a citizen of the world, I share the profound need for the alternative, collaborative and positive means of addressing the pressing social and environmental issues that plague both our planet and our collective conscience.  I hope to create projects that foster discussion, generate ecological awareness, and promote civic action through projects that are informed by and directly linked to the world and the communities I collaborate with.

Other projects I have implemented in the community include mobile garden units and green tagging where I wheel about a bright yellow garden or place small magnetic green spaces to engage the public and promote urban sustainability while reclaiming areas made unsuitable for cultivation. In the end I hope to extend with humor and levity, the ecological “knowledge of the moment;” by offering simple, positive changes that can be enacted to increase sustainability—an activity that can be replicated long after the artist and the art have moved on.  Individual choices and action matter…they all add up.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Day 49




Here are a few more studio shots....

Day 48

The opening last evening went very well.  The center had record attendees and there was non-stop performances as well.  My work, Colony Collapse, originally included video however the lighting from the window a few feet away with the low powered LCD washed out the video so I decided against it.  I was unhappy with how quiet the work became so I pulled together unannounced a performance that made use of a pico projector placed into a hand held device constructed from cast off materials.  The video was simple footage of bees pollinating from flower to flower in a short depth of field.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Day 46

Tomorrow are the openings and I  have just completed the install in Space 333. There is a bit of editing left to do for my performance but all in all, I am ready. Soon I will flip the switch.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Day 43

Open Studio and Exhibition at
Seoul Art Space GEUMCHEON

풍부한 무질서 
Rich Disorganization











* Opening and Performances Thursday,Aug,26,18:00  이세옥+최수환 Rhee Sei+Che Swann , 루이지 코폴라 Luigi Coppla , 제프 슈무키 Jeff Schmuki , 수퍼피쉬스! SUPERFISHES!

* 1st Term Artists in Residence Open Studio
Thursday, Aug, 26~Sunday, Aug,29
10:00~18:00

* Exhibition - Thursday, Aug, 26~Sunday, Sept,5, for 11days, 10:00~18:00
“풍부한 무질서 Rich Disorganization"
* Participating Artists:
김명남 Kim Myoung-Nam, 김지수 Gisoo Kim, 노재운 Rho Jae-oon, 루이지 코폴라 Luigi Coppola (Italy),
극 연구소 마찰 The Pure Theatre Laboratory Machal, 무빙밀머리(박찬국) Moving Milmeory, 박능생 Park Nung-Saeng, 수퍼피쉬스! SUPERFISHES! (Korea+Israel), 스튜디오 우하하 Studio Woohaha, 윤주희 Youn Ju-hee, 이기일 Lee Kiil, 이수영+리금홍 Lee Soo-young + Lee Geum-hong, 이세옥+최수환 Rhee Sei+Che Swann, 이호진 Lee Ho-jin, 인진미 In Jin-mi, 장석준 Jang Suk-joon, 정정주 Jeong Eeong-ju, 조습 JoSeub, 제프 슈무키 Jeff Schmuki (USA), 천영미 Chun Young-mi.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Day 36

My bedroom is now serving as a nursery for a component of the upcoming Project Space 333 Exhibition.  Many of the reconfigured filters previously shown now have chia sprouts.  The cooler enviroment of my air conditioned quarters has successfully slowed down the growth to more normal rates that will leave something for the exhibition.

It has turned out, up to 90% of the materials in both the open studio and upcoming exhibition were originally discarded or thrown away by various neighborhood businesses and factories.