Broca´s Garden II

About

BROCA´S GARDEN II - Kodac Ko
18.03. - 31.03.2021
Curated by Nayun Lee

Kodac materialized the idea of exophony, the practice of writing in a language that is not one's mother tongue, in three videos for at the exhibition space Seetangraum, Jeju, South Korea. The presented work was called . It is known that bilingual people often switch between different modes. They turn on the Korean switch and speak in Korean, then they would turn on the English switch to speak in English. Our language is governed by consciousness to the extent that one can control the modes, and Broca’s Area, the portion of the brain linked to speech, is the mediator in the overall flow in sentence production. Perhaps, when bilinguals switch from one language to another, a signal is sent to the domain of Broca's Area. Once the language is switched and speaking starts, it is deactivated.

Kodac is bilingual, speaking both Korean and German, she pictures Broca's Area as a garden where diverse and delicate plants are growing. While thinking about languages, she imagined how she could express her thoughts by blinking an eye. It is a new language created by Broca’s Area in Kodac’s head. Each eye is coordinated to indicate YES and NO. Kodac plays a role in Broca's Garden where she is lying in the garden and communicating by blinking her eyes, searching for the new language, and the means to communicate. Kodac invites you to her utopia, Broca’s Garden.

 Kodac Ko was born in 1986 in South Korea. She lives and works in Berlin. She creates media artwork and mixed media installations. Her work focuses on the inability to communicate, the attempt at dialogue, the dissonance between form and content and the dysfunction of language. By investigating communication on a meta-level, she tries to grasp the underlying ambiguity and indistinctness of language.

Her works have been shown at Museum for Photography Braunschweig (DE), Skulpturenmuseum Glaskasten Marl (DE), Ibrida Festival of the Intermediate Arts, Forlì (IT), Festspielhaus Hellerau, Dresden(DE) and Kunstforum der TU Darmstadt (DE).

Nayun Lee, a curator and critic, is the author of the books “Fresh Art New York” and “Refreshing Days New York,” “Art Voyage.” In May of 2017, she released the first issue of Seaweed (씨위드), her art and culture journal. In Nov of 2019, she has named as the director in charge of the Jeju museum of art.   __________________________________________________________________________

IT MAY SOUND UTOPIAN
Exhibition-Relay 2021
10 Shows, 10 Artists, 4 Guest Curators
Curated by Jung Me Chai & Anna Ratcliffe

Think about the alarming crises in the world. The spreading pandemic, racism and discrimination, growing far-right propaganda, international terrorism, and climate change are to name a few of the perceived threats to our existence. Some people are paralyzed by uncertainty in this unpredictable time, and yes, we are also confronted with severe socio-economic problems. In addition, this unexpected crisis has, unfortunately, accelerated the rate of restrictions on civil liberties, and mass surveillance methods have uninterruptedly risen.

Even if it may sound utopian, we are forced to think about new models of “how we live” in these perilous times. The image of “Utopia” maybe a romantic and unrealistic concept, but it is an urgent one as we try to revise our current problems.

Under the title ‘IT MAY SOUND UTOPIAN’, DISKURS Berlin launches the second round of Exhibition-Relay, encouraging creative thinkers to create personal utopias in this unpredictable and vulnerable world.