the forces behind

DOOSAN Curator Workshop 2011

July 19-August 18, 2012

Opening Reception:Thursday July 19, 6-8PM

DOOSAN Gallery New York is pleased to announce ‘the forces behind,’ a group exhibition organized by DOOSAN Curator Whorskshop 2011 participants. The exhibition will be on view from July 19 to August 18.

Elements of void,* definite yet invisible, exist in the general social structure. The term void can be used to define those who were obliterated of their social security numbers, or, spaces that have lost their original functions in the ever-changing industry. Also, void refers to those who have sarcastically proclaimed themselves as ‘excessive residual beings’ due to their inability to participate in economic activities, the superfluous. As well as artistic values are excluded from the mainstream’s valuating system. The Forces Behind is an exhibition that aims to newly identify the subjective movements surrounding these various forms of void, from social and aesthetic perspectives. By looking at the void – seen from the perspective of ‘here, and now’ in a wide spectrum, the goal is to address the waves of the forces behind, the hidden forces within the void.

This exhibition initiated from the unique phenomenon of the superfluous within our society. Superfluous, meaning excessive or unnecessary, are considered as the voids in the entire social system, but the focus of the exhibition is on their stored potential energy. The term superfluous, cynical yet satirical as it sounds, revealing the structure of social exclusion, is nonetheless relevant to the discomfort and despair of the current younger generation, who came of age under neoliberalism. We are even witnessing the phenomenon of superfluous activities becoming the superfluous force, which is growing into a form of protest, potent enough to change the system. This exhibition examines such political potential of the superfluous and the various types of solidarity and communities that the superfluous have formed behind the structure of social exclusion, as well as on its character as a cultural movement, from various angles. The potential of the superfluous is showed in the expanded concept of the void. The Forces Behind is realized through the various phenomena often regarded as the void, fabricated from the resonance within empty spaces and wave of sounds; the formal and structural energy derived from the contradictions between the consistent and the inconsistent; and finally, the stories and the elusive exchanges within the excluded.

*the meaning of the void can be explained through the concept of the French philosopher, Alain Badiou. The definition of the void that Badiou gives is ‘a being not perceived within the whole, yet ever-existing and constantly resisting the whole.’ According to Badiou, the void is a point where event for the Truth occurs, as well as a spot for the emergence of new subjects. Here, the subjects reveal their fidelity through the post-event practices and constantly questions the problematics of the state of situation, ultimately revealing their subjectivity.

DOOSAN Curator Workshop

DOOSAN Curator Workshop is a program dedicated to developing the contemporary art of Korea by discovering and supporting new emerging curators. The program selects three new curators every year and conducts regular workshops. The collectively organized exhibitions are then presented in DOOSAN Gallery in Seoul and New York.

Sojung Kang (Curator, Gallery Hyundai), Sooyoung Kim (Editor, art in culture Magazine), and Eunbi Jo (Curator, KT&G Sangsangmadang) were selected as first DOOSAN Curator Workshop participants. After a round of seminars led by professional lecturers and workshops on various exhibition plans, participants organized an exhibition, ‘the forces behind’. The exhibition was first introduced at DOOSAN Gallery Seoul in January 2012 with positive responses.