Haesung Villa (Changdong Studio and Saachi Gallery), 2009
-
Plywood, bricks, found objects
300x220x90cm
In the summer of 2009, I participated in the artist in residence programme at The National Art Studio, Changdong, run by The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea. A large studio, which had only one tiny window, was allocated to me. The view through the window was fixed, as a three-story house completely blocked my studio window. Every day I had to look at the house, whether I liked it or not, simply because it exists there, always before my eyes. I did not pay attention to the house at first but, suddenly, I realized that I was observing it everyday. It was particularly interesting for me that the occupier of the house expanded his or her space by removing the pre-existing frames and glass of the window and constructing a newly protruding structure in the window space, built from cheap steel and aluminium windows and sandwich panels, which are frequently found in the construction of temporary housing.
In thinking of this abrupt appearance of new space, it can be said that we live today in an age of deviation. This newly constructed space in this particular house, which might not appear in its original construction planning, is seen as a transformative vector, by which a simple window was not only transformed into a complex three-dimensional form by destroying its original structure and relation; but also a certain type of spatial principle and practice is in effect within that space. This deterritorializing force is not only the necessity for the production of space, but also makes a space able to transcend its concrete specificity, spatial limit, or any sort of original totality, producing and actualizing new connections through the space between heterogeneous concepts, such as construction and destruction.
Installation at Changdong Studio, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul and Saatchi Gallery, London