 Preserved (1995) Videostill Seoungho Cho In the Midst of Videoworks The first solo exhibition by Seoungho Cho in Europe will be seen at the Netherlands Media Art Institute. In addition to a number of new video installations, a retrospective of his earlier work will be presented. The works of Seoungho Cho are poetic video reflections. The sources for his works can be anything, such as a short video clip, music, landscapes, a line or verse of poetry. But also everyday images and objects from our ordinary environment. In his complex installations these concrete images, together with sound and text, merge into a dream-like collage. The boundaries between the conscious and subconscious thus blur, and those things with which one is very familiar become alien, and sometimes even sinister. Although Cho's work is of outstanding technical perfection, he emphasizes that the development in his work is not so much stimulated by technical innovation as by his artistic vision. In this Cho proceeds from his intuition, and experimentation is the starting point for his videos. During the exhibition the following works will be shown: The video installation "In the Midst of" (1997) consists of six monitors that hang from the ceiling and a screen that lies on the floor. On this screen swirling water gurgles away into the dark center of a drain. In "Analysis" (1995) the image of a match being lit appears on a monitor. Meters record the sound and the action. This is visualized on two other monitors by means of audio and visual signals. A fourth monitor shows blue/black/white negative images of elements from natural landscapes. "ColdPieces II" (2002) is an extensive investigation into the changeability of pure form. It is a close-up study of water in its various forms, such as drops coming from a faucet or waves that roll across the screen. The installation "Respiration" (1995) consists of 14 monitors that hang from the ceiling. These show the flashing emergency lights of ambulances and police cars together with fragments of text. The work "Preserved" (1995) reflects the artist's interest in bringing the subconscious to the surface by creating a balance between experiences undergone and the activity of the mind. "1/1" (2001) is a playful work that to a large extent was filmed in deteriorated black and white. It reminds one of the early experiments carried out by video artists in the 1970s. In the two new video installations, "Untitled I" (2004) and "Untitled II" (2004), the artist continues his consistent search for the elements of nature. In this new work he concentrates on the wind that constantly gives new forms to the desert. The following single channel works will be seen in the projection space: "Horizontal Silence" (2003), "Orange Factory" (2002), "67/97" (2001), "Linear Tracking" (2000), "ColdPieces" (1999), "Salt Creek" (1998), "WS.3" (2003). Seoungho Cho has been living and working in New York for fifteen years, where he has produced a large number of single channel tapes and video installations. He was born in Pusan, South Korea, in 1959. After he completed his BA and MA in Graphic Arts at the Hong-Ik University in Korea, he went to the United States to obtain his MA in Video Art from the New York University. He has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Pusan Metropolitan Art Museum in Pusan, South Korea, among other places. His work has been shown at numerous international festivals and exhibitions, including the World Wide Video Festival in Amsterdam and the New York Festival. Exhibition: April 9 - June 6, 2004 Opening hours: Tue-Sat 1 - 6pm Netherlands Media Art Institute Montevideo/Time Based Arts Keizersgracht 264 NL-1016 EV Amsterdam Telephone +31 20 623 7101 Fax +31 20 624 4423 Email info@montevideo.nl www.montevideo.nl |
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