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    • Seung-chan Gwon

    Seung-chan Gwon, That Place 2, 2010, digital prints on light boxes; installation view at The Flower of May, 30th Anniversary Exhibition of May 18 Democratization Movement, 2010 Courtesy of the artist
    Seung-chan Gwon, That Place 2, 2010, digital prints on light boxes; installation view at The Flower of May, 30th Anniversary Exhibition of May 18 Democratization Movement, 2010 Courtesy of the artist
    Seung-chan Gwon, That Place 2, 2010, digital prints on light boxes; installation view at The Flower of May, 30th Anniversary Exhibition of May 18 Democratization Movement, 2010 Courtesy of the artist
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    That Place 3, 2010/2020
    digital prints on light boxes
    each: 160 × 100 cm
    Courtesy of the artist

     

    That Place 2 was first presented at The Flower of May, the thirtieth anniversary exhibition of the May 18 Movement, which focused on artists that engaged with social practices. Emulating its original presentation, That Place 3 is installed in such a way that a soldier and a Gwangju citizen face one another. While developing this artwork in 2010, Gwon accessed a Gwangju military base from which troops to suppress the civilian uprising in 1980 were deployed. Gwon shot a portrait of a stationed soldier, who is holding a red note that indicates the date and time when the photograph was taken. The other portrait shows a civilian holding a similar red card, noting the date and time of its creation, too. The female citizen was photographed at Democracy Plaza, the square where the mass rallies of 1980 took place. Even if neither belongs to the generation that directly experienced the May 18 events, they face each other reminding the viewer of the stand-off between the military and civilians.

     

    Seung-chan Gwon (b. 1973, Jangheung, Korea) explores various social issues through (in)tangible public art project, participatory art, paintings, and multimedia installation works. He studied fine arts at Honam University and received his master’s degree from the same university in 1999. Since graduating, he has carried out projects including the nationwide name card distribution project, Hello! This Is Gwon Seung-chan!; Baseline Project– Low Power Radio Broadcast (Gwangju, Anyang, Seoul, and more, Korea, 2006– 10), and Immigrant Radio Broadcasting (Gwangju, 2015). He received the Gwangju Art Award in 2018 and Ha Jung-woong Youth Artist Award in 2012, and his major solo exhibitions include Young Artists Invitation Exhibition: Gwon Seung-chan – CONNECTED (Gwangju Museum of Art, 2018), Multimedia Gwon Seung- chan (Gallery Hyun, Archdiocese of Gwangju, 2016). His work has been shown in group exhibitions such as Indonesia Contemporary Ceramic Biennale (Jatiwangi, Indonesia, 2019), and Sapporo Snow Festival – YUKITERRACE (Sapporo, Japan, 2017).