“Feminism Media Artivists” will continue to multiply
By Lee Choong-yeol
Published:
October 23, 2016
Translated
by Jieun Lee
On
September 22, the Ministry of Health and Welfare ignited women’s anger by naming abortion
as “immoral medical treatment” in the legislation
pre-announcement of the “Amendment
to the Bill Regarding Administrative
Rules
for Healthcare”
in which the punishment of medical personnel would be reinforced—as if
misogynistic hate crimes and criminal cases that occur every day are not enough of
an offense to women. Due to the Association of
Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ opposition
and women holding a “black protest” in response,
the government stated that it would reconsider
this
plan. However, South Korea is still a country that
defines abortion as a criminal act. The nation controls
women’s bodies. Moreover, mass media constantly produces
images that encourage misogyny.
In the midst
of soaring voices from all over asking for change and expressing anger at the
reality of our society in which women’s rights are at the very bottom,
it is heartening to see that the Feminism
Media Artivist Biennale is back
after six years.
 |
| “What kind of woman are you?” Youngjoo Yoon’s Can you hear me? Sound installation, 31m 38s, 2015 |
Women Have a Right to Express Themselves Freely Through Art
This
year’s biennale theme is “FEME 3.0” and it is
hosted by Alternative Visual Culture Factory I-Gong. Because misogyny became an
explosive issue due to the case of the woman murdered near
Gangnam Station last May, I-Gong stated thatthe
intention of the project was to observe the
realities of women through a new lens by engaging with artwork embodying
feminist perspectives.
The
voice of FEME 1.0spoke through painting, sculpture,
photography, and performance; FEME 2.0 was expressed through DV screens,
installations, sounds, blogs, and local-community art; and, presently in 2016, FEME
3.0
attempts to communicate through HD screens, networks, big
data, SNS, and smartphones.
Director
Yeonho Kim-Chang, the organizer of the project, stated:
“I thought that the 2010 exhibition was going to be the last and that I would
not be able to continue to do this biennale.” This feeling came about because
Kim-Chang foresaw that “financial support was unstable and that the women’s
movement had lost a lot of its momentum since the
head-of-family
system was abolished
on June 27, 2007.” Since people thought
that the abolition mean that legal
equality between women and men had finally been achieved, a biennale which
embodied new feminist visions would probably not
find any impetus in being organized.
After a
six-year absence, the reappearance of the Feminism
Media Artivist Biennale this year seems
to have been hugely influenced by the growing issue of misogyny in Korean
society and by a young feminists movement.
So,
what is the overarching spirit of the Feminism
Media Artivist Biennale? Director Yeonho Kim-Chang states that “the feminist
mission is to, no matter what, bring
about the end of unethical discrimination and violence,”
and that “women have a right to express themselves freely through art. Until the extinction
of women on this planet, the term ‘Feminism
Media Artivist’ will be constantly evolving.”
 |
| Noriko Ishihara’s Exfoliating to Be “Feminine”. Single channel video & installation,6m 18s, 2016. |
How Have Women Media Artists Seen Reality?
The Feminism
Media Artivist Biennale 2016 takes place
in three different spaces during different time periods.
At this
exhibition, works of arts are seen in diverse languages, depths, and
methodologies, reflecting the fact that there
were various genres of feminists :people
who just became aware of misogyny through the
case of the woman murdered at Gangnam Station; people
who have just become feminists;
and people who have
studied feminism and participated in feminist movements.
Youngjoo
Yoon’s Can You Hear Me? (sound
installation,31m
38s,2015),
exhibited from October 17 to 19 at the Rainbow Cube Gallery, is a work that
recorded one-hundred and five Korean women’s voices and stories all answering
the question “What kind of woman are you?” not as
mothers, daughters,
wives,
or daughters-in-law. Also among
the six works exhibited is Noriko Ishihara’s
Exfoliating to Be “Feminine” (single
channel video & installation,6m 18s, 2016),
which expresses the conflict between ones true self and
the identity constructed for one by
others.
From
October 22 to 27 at the Media Theater I-Gong, there are three works including
Minkyoung Choi’s Love Letter for a Girl (single
channel video, 7m 32s, 2013),
which exposes women’s dual position both as a subjects feeling
desire and as objects of desire,
and
Heesu Kwon’s A Woman Like Me
(video
installation, 4m 44s, 2015)
which expresses, through video and object installation, the
identity crisis of a Korean woman in her twenties.
The “Alternative
Women’s Film Festival” takes
place from November 2 to 3 at the Korea Film Archive. There will be
sixteen works shown in three groups: Three
Artists, Three Colors; the Young Women Artists Collection; and Feminist
Writing. Much attention is being
given to the music documentary film Sound
of Nomad: Koryo Arirang (directed by
Jeong Kim, 88min, color, 2016), which
is about the life stories and songs of women artists at the Koryo
Theater who have had tragic family stories, and also to the documentary film Forgetting Vietnam (directed by
Trinh T. Minh-ha, 90min, color, 2015) which spatially
explores the relationship
between land and water, the elements necessary for
constructing a “nation.”
 |
| Minkyoung Choi’s Love Letter for a Girl. Single channel video, 7m 32s, 2013. |
In
South Korea, where feminism is highly misunderstood and where it is even difficult
to discuss the problem of the gender
binary, it must be a focal point of appreciation for audience members to
interpret how Korean feminist artists react to/counteract
the stereotype of the feminine and how they represent women’s language,
which is different from men’s.
I would
like to thank the producers, staff, and artists who re-established the
Feminism
Media Artist Biennale, as it
allows us to discover how contemporary women media
artists view reality. Moreover, I hope many people will
participate in promoting ”The
Location of Feminism Media as Visual Art,”
a
symposium, which
takes place at 5:30pm on November 3 at the Cinema Tech Building 2 of the
Korea Film Archive.
Feminism Media Artivist Biennale 2016 FEME 3.0
When:
October 17, 2016 to November 3, 2016
Where:
Media Theater I-Gong, Rainbow Cube Gallery, Korea Film Archive
Participating
artists: Sejeong Kwon, Jeongyoon Ahn,
Youngjoo Yu, Hyeran Park, Noriko Ishihara, Hui Hwang, Heesoo Kwon, Minkyoung
Choi, Sangim Han, etc.
Participating
directors: Trinh T. Minh-ha, Laura Mulvey, Jeong Kim,
Hyejeong Shim, Black Leopard, Elena Näsänen,
Jane Jin Kaisen, etc.
Organizer:
Alternative Visual Culture Factory I-Gong (igong.org)
Sponsor:
Korea Foundation for Women, Arts Council Korea, Media Theater I-Gong
*Original Article: http://www.ildaro.com/sub_read.html?uid=7638
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