Earlier this year, Gwanghapdan gave a talk for Raffaella Gallo’s ARTCaffè. Among other things, we discussed what it means to be a collective of artists. Goseong, made a joke about how people associate the idea of collectives more with 20-year-old students than mid-career artists. And yes, I believe some people are indeed surprised that we are veteran artists who have decided to band together to spend time collaborating and exploring aesthetics.
I am the only non-Korean member of the collective. And one of the things I love about Gwanghapdan is that all members have spent a significant portion of their lives abroad. There is a strong sense of wanderlust running through our veins.
Jiwon Kim spent years based in Germany and some of her remarkably beautiful early work was made in Europe.
Here is Jiwon @jiwon_kim_artist in her own words:
“I am quite used to speaking in an adopted tongue, all to find the perfect vessel for the story I need to tell. This is a subtle knack I picked up while struggling with a second or third tongue: when the inflection and rhythm feel right, people tend to perceive it as genuine fluency. I suspect I have evaded the rigorous demands of true fluency, a quality easily lost in the chase for diverse mediums, by instead offering a compelling rhythm. If I am to hold onto any core attitudes in my work, they must be the three liberties: the liberty to embrace the difficult choice, the liberty of the curving, longer road, and the liberty to reveal where I am unfinished”.
“다루고자 하는 이야기에 적합한 방식을 찾느라 때로는 익숙하지 않은 언어를 구사하는 데에 꽤 익숙하다. 제2, 제3 외국어를 학습하면서 얻은 요령이기도 한데, 억양이 어색하지 않으면 사람들은 유창하다고 인식하기 마련이다. 어쩌면 나는 다채로운 매체를 추구하느라 놓치기 쉬운 유창함을 그럴싸한 억양으로 면해왔겠다. 작업을 해나가면서 굳이 지키고 싶은 태도가 있다면 어려운 것을 택하는 여유, 둘러 가는 여유, 그리고 빈틈을 보여주는 여유일 것이다”.
