Yeseul Song

Exhibition:

Clayarch Art Museum, GimHae, South Korea (April 2021 ~ August 2021)
Curated by Jiyoun Jeong

Exhibition Page 
Tickets

*Clayarch Art Museum is a public contemporary art museum that is specialized in ceramics and architecture. The museum has been selected as the Best Public Museum by Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2021 and the architecture is the winnder of Asia Design Prize 2020.


Selected Press:

KBS (Korean Braodcasting System) National News
Busan Ilbo 부산일보
The Hankyoreh News 한겨레
Gimhae News 김해뉴스


Invited Presentations:

Museum of Arts and Design
Seoul Foundation of Arts and Culture
The Cooper Union


Credits:

Curated by Jiyoun Jeong at Clayarch Museum
Funded by Clayarch Art Museum & GimHae Cultural Foundation
Research supported/funded by Future Imagination Fund
Visual design - Grapin
Exhibition staff - Jungyoon Choi, Jungwon Kang, education team
Equipment - Midiart
Fabrication/consturction - gomdesign
Sound design collaboration - Jesse Simpson
Technical Consultation - Michael Simpson
Perfume making collaboration -  Jiyul
Video/photo - Jung Seungyong @yonyori
And many more!

The first museum solo exhibition that presents the complete series of Yeseul Song’s Invisible Sculptures (2018-2021). The exhibition was on from 04/2021 to 08/2021 at the Clayarch Art Museum, South Korea, and attended by thousands of visitors even during the middle of pandamic.

It’s not just a solo exhibition- it’s a bigger project around Song’s Invisible Sculptures that accompanies several public/educational programmings in collaboration with various people and institutions mostly in the local community.

Curatorial Statement by Jiyoun Jeong (Korean version / English version)

 

Invisible Sculptures is a series of sculptures that can be seen by senses other than vision. I started the project in 2018. Read more about the project here: Invisible Sculptures #1~#6 / my essay on Adjacent. The project questions the meaning of “object”, “sculpture” and what it means to “exist” through sculptures that are immaterial.



“Anytime new technologies have emerged, the art world has also been expected to expand its boundaries with the diversification of media. Belying those expectations, art that relies on the visual sense remains predominant, but within this milieu, there have been dazzling advances in art forms that are wedded to the latest technologies. The artist raises questions about the art we see, and asks what we are losing in a visually-oriented culture.”
– Excerpt from the curatorial statement by Jiyoun Jeong (Curator, Clayarch Art Museum)


The eight Invisible Sculptures shown at the show are as follows: 
Sound Sculpture I, II
Warmth Sculpture I, II
Air Sculpture
Thought Sculpture
Smell Sculpture I, II
Invisible Forest.

For this show, the shapes and textures of the invisible sculptures are inspired by clay vessels from Kaya, the historical Korean nation that existed from 42-532 CE. The Clayarch Art Museum has been built on land that was in Kaya.

Below are some images/videos from the exhibition. The work is highly experiential so the documentation is able to show only a tiny fraction of the show. If you wish to hear my presentation, see the virtual tour of the show, or experience the pieces, email me.

The exhibition book will be available soon for purchase. 


[Installation Views]



[Audience Interactions]




[Preview for Visually Impaired Visitors]

The sense of vision doesn’t help you to see Invisible Sculptures – because of this, visually impaired people and people with sight are on equal terms when they encounter these sculptures. We invited visually imapaired visitors to a preview of the show followed by a conversation about accessibility in art. 

Below is a visually impaired visitor “seeing” Air Sculpture.



[Collective Perception of Invisible Sculptures]

After experiencing the sculpture, the viewer is invited to make what they saw with a handful of clay; these responses form a collective perception of the sculpture. The truth appears rather relative and obscure when we “see” with senses other than vision. The collection of the clay sculptures made by the audience becomes a celebration of diversity in our perception, based on our physical, cultural, and social backgrounds. The sculptures are fired in a kilm to be permanently archived.



[Associated Public Programs]

<Moment by Moment; Invisible and Existent> is a bigger project around my Invisible Sculptures that accompanies several public/educational programmings in collaboration with  people and institutions mostly in the local community. I led following public programs before and during the show:

#0: Workshop Series by Yeseul Song, “On/Off SaiSai: Movement for Conversations”

• Press article on Busan Ilbo (부산일보)
  
• An archival book about the workshop series

#1: Round Table “Can we do that in museums?”

• Press article on GimHae News (김해일보)

#2: Beyond the Museum with Invisible Sculpture On Wheels

• See the documentation on my website
  
• Press article on GN news (경남일보)

#3: Preview + Conversations with Visually Impaired Visitors

• Invited talk hosted by Seoul Foundation of Arts and Culture (videos: long version / short version)
  
• Press article on The Hankyoreh (한겨레)
  
• A written review by one of the social workers who came to assist visually impaired visitors

#4: Creating Accessible Visitor Guide for <Invisible and Existent> Show with local school teachers

• In collaboration with Min Hyung Kang (Independent Curator, Founder of Art Space Barim)

+ More public programs to come in August 


[Interview Video]



[Space Walkthrough]



[Visual Materials] designed by Sung Ik Jo (Grapin) 



[Exhibition Leaflet] designed by Sung Ik Jo (Grapin)
+ An exhibition book is work-in-progess.



[Invited Talk at Seoul Foundation of Arts and Culture] in Korean