Sojung Jun: Green Screen

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Seoul-based artist Sojung Jun transfigures space and time to awaken a dreamlike vision of Korea as a re-united ecotopia. Curated this month by Josef O’Connor in collaboration with The Seoul Museum of Art, Jun’s two films demonstrate the potential for public art to overcome ideological and political conflicts with artistic imagination. 

Appearing online and presented daily across a global network of screens in London, Tokyo and Seoul, this exhibition explores the tensions inherent in the act of translating history, culture and time with the interwoven presentation of two major works: Green Screen (2021) casting light on the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas ‘with pervading senses of frustration and anticipation’ either side of Early Arrival of Future (2015), a landmark ten-minute musical performance between South and North Korean pianists, which will be presented only once at the midpoint of the month, 16 August, in its full entirety. Jun, the 18th laureate of the Hermès Foundation Missulsang, a biannual prize for Korea's most promising artists, explains: 

“These two works question the senses that the experience of division and boundaries bring to life. At the same time, they cross the axis of time and continue to recalibrate the present in relation to the past. This CIRCA project hopes to reflect on the scenes of conflict that lies beyond the division of the two Koreas and, therefore, encourage recollection of the sense of coexistence and solidarity.” 

Filmed along the border of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) over the last month, Green Screen considers the potential of a human - vacated or intermediate landscape. Jun assembled a vivid, multi-perspectival picture of the DMZ, a 155-mile-long, 2.5-mile-wide strip of land that has been virtually untouched by humans for more than six decades, after gaining access in June 2021 to the adjacent Civilian Control Area guarded by the South Korean army. 

A symbol of suffering and division, the DMZ became an unintentional wildlife sanctuary when the two Koreas withdrew following the armistice at the conclusion of the Korean War of 1950-53. In recent years, South Korean President Moon Jae-in has begun working with UNESCO to list the DMZ as a World Heritage Site. Drawing inspiration from ‘Mongyudowondo’ a 15th Century painting based on a Korean Prince’s dream of a journey into a land of peach blossom trees, Green Screen focuses on ‘the site’s potential as a gap or a twilight zone while giving due attention to the power of nature.’

Presented on 16 August, Jun’s landmark Early Arrival of Future stages a duet between North Korean pianist Kim Cheol-woong and South Korean pianist Uhm Eun-kyung. Through this, the artist asks what kind of meanings art can have in different societies. Jun notes: “‘Early Arrival of Future’ envisages a time that has not yet arrived. In this term that the North Korean defectors who have settled in the South use to refer to a moment of reunification, the “future” is not only a time yet to arrive but also a time difficult to reach.”

#CIRCAECONOMY PRINT

Jun is creating a limited edition print, available to purchase for £100 (+VAT where applicable) on the CIRCA website until 31 August 2021. 70% of profits from #CIRCAECONOMY print sales are circulated back into helping build an economy that commissions new public art in our communities, nurtures more diverse cultural industries, and supports emerging creative potential with the distribution of cash grants to artists and institutions. For more info, click here.

Visitors attending CIRCA presentations are encouraged to bring headphones.​

"Artist Jun So Jung's work reminds us that division is not a regional issue in the Korean Peninsula, but a human issue that has been present in the ubiquitous flow of world history. In the paradoxical landscape in her works, where the beautiful nature of the Demilitarized Zone coexists with the invisible political tensions, or the two pianists whose collaboration repeatedly shows intimacy in communication and sensitive confrontation through music, we find meaning by resonating with the contradiction in our reality that reaffirms how closely the world has been connected as revealed by the Covid-19, where familiar human contact is prohibited." Wonseok Koh, Chief Curator and Head of Exhibition Division, Seoul Museum of Art

“This work embodies and exemplifies everything that CIRCA stands to represent as a platform. In an era of heightened divisions, between individuals and groups within the global society, we are honoured to present Jun’s work as a shining example of art's potential to evade and overcome boundaries of conflict and geographical separation. Both these landmark works not only transcend the fiercest geopolitical divisions, they present to us all a glimpse of public art’s ever-present power to forge moments of unity.”  Josef O’Connor, Artistic Director, CIRCA

“We are delighted that this newly commissioned work by Sojung Jun will be presented in the capitals of the UK, Korea and Japan. Her new film reveals the insightful promise and creativity that young Korean artists are now producing across all genres. We are especially grateful to be able to participate in this public art programme during what has been a difficult time for artists across the world. We’d like to express our gratitude to all the partners who have supported this project and of course the artist for producing this fine work.” Dr Jungwoo Lee, Director, KCCUK