Do you like science fiction movies or novels? “Science fiction (sci-fi)” is a genre that expresses what may happen in space or the future based on scientific imagination. <SF2021: A Fantasy Odyssey> is an exhibition in May that will scratch your sci-fi itch. The title borrowed from <2001: A Space Odyssey>, which is a film from 1968, imagining life in the year 2001. And in 2021, there is a more fantastic future that will surpass even that film's imagination. "Odyssey" refers to an ancient Greek epic about Odysseus, a hero in the Trojan war. In other words, the exhibition title, <SF2021: A Fantasy Odyssey>, means a story being lost and drifting in a fantasy. It will invite you to a fantastic future adventure. Are you ready to fall into the fantasy with CAH?
1. 14 Colors Expressing Sci-fi
14 Korean and global artists participated in <SF2021: A Fantasy Odyssey>. Not only just displaying fine arts, but also it has various artworks such as digital paintings, photography, video, sound art, and installation art. Furthermore, the artworks all have a common background theme, sci-fi, including space, time, dystopia, virtual reality, and posthumanism. They stimulate the imagination of the audience. Especially the media artwork, <Make You Maker> by Lucy McRae, reflects the ethics of scientific knowledge and technology in the present and future. To be specific, this artwork describes the future of cloned human flesh being used as a food source when genetic engineering technology has become extremely advanced. Specifically, the main character in the video made a cake with genes such as gender, physical characteristics… even a personality. As a result, she manipulated her genes and became a completely different person. According to Lucy McRae, “What if we could choose our own human traits; or if our parents could choose what they give us?” The strange kitchen, which looks like the laboratory in the video, makes us think about the boundaries between scientific innovation and ethics. Finally, it allowed the audience to imagine the possibility that science may restructure the human body in the future.
Also, it was unique that four Korean science fiction novelists have collaborated with this exhibition. Science fiction novels written by Kim Bo-young, Jeong So-yeon, Bae Myung-hoon, and Djuna were recreated in different ways, such as digital painting, cartoons, sound art, and text art. These novelists in the exhibition showed a special synergy. Especially in that science fiction is a genre that requires specific imagination, collaboration with science fiction and art has made audiences curious about novels or become more immersed in novels. Science fiction novelist Djuna created <In My City> and unveiled it for the first time at the exhibition. The story was about a woman trapped in a destroyed virtual reality world. She constructed space-time on her own and survived from mysterious male villains chasing her. The virtual reality in the novel is continuously shown around the eight walls in exhibition Room 1 and Room 2. Djuna's novel <In My City> was written on the walls. The eight walls with sentences from the novel were one piece of artwork. There, the audience could read the main character's thoughts about falling into the unfamiliar destroyed virtual reality. Following eight walls, the audience could deeply feel her loneliness, emptiness, and fear. Because the inside of the exhibition was dark and quiet, the exhibition hall itself resembled a strange virtual reality world where the main character was trapped. Thus, the exhibition hall itself became a piece of artwork, and it was a very unique point.
2. The Problem of Humanity Suggested by Sci-fi
Science fiction often talks about the problems of humanity. <SF2021: A Fantasy Odyssey> addresses the chronic assignments of humanity such as racism, ableism, sexism, poverty, and environmental pollution, which all have repeatedly improved or worsened from the past to the present. The purpose of the exhibition is to reflect on reality by looking at the artwork. In particular, the four novelists have consistently used social issues in their novel works. Among them, for example, <Topics of Contemporary SF: Changing Senses of the world> and <Traced Stories> are collaboration artworks between novelist Jeong So-yeon and illustrator Ram Han. They discussed various topics that are used in Korea science fiction novels today. To be specific, there were nine social issues included: ecology, children, feminism, normality, humanity, social memory, living communities, pandemic, and new standards. These nine topics have been the subject of various science fiction novels. However, at the same time, these are still burning hot in reality. Ram Han, who is an illustrator paying attention to social media, drew nine topics as a digital painting. Meanwhile, novelist Jeong So-yeon wrote keywords that each picture symbolizes, and scenes of the novel that inspired them. The most noticeable, and relevant, topic in the nine themes was definitely 'pandemic'. This painting was inspired by the short novel <The Box>[1], written by Kim Eun-hwan, which included the short story <Pandemic>. It reminded us that the COVID-19 pandemic is still not over a year later, in 2021. In the painting, germs and antibiotics were floating on everyone’s hands. However, the audience could feel the warm heat among two hands clearly. The audience also could feel the hope that they can overcome the pandemic if they have each other's warm hearts despite the difficult situation.
3. More Special Ways to Enjoy Exhibition
The exhibition does not simply display artworks. However, there are other special ways to enjoy the exhibition. First, <SF2021: A Fantasy Odyssey> started on a very special project, with the novelist and the audience creating a science fiction novel together. The title of this project is <A Billion Years Before the End of the World>, and it was inspired by the Russian novel <Definitely Maybe>, written by the Strugatsky brothers. Novelist Jeong Ji-don presented the introduction of the novels, and the audience conceived a new novel starting with the introduction. From April 1st to May 9th, the exhibition received creations by members of the audience, after selecting one of them, it will be released on the website and brochure in June.
The second is the website of the exhibition. The <SF2021: A Fantasy Odyssey> official website is very fancy. Moreover, you can check digital paintings, high-definition video artwork, and read their short explanations on the website. It also has information from participating artists, so please check this website before visiting the exhibition. In particular, after reading the exhibition's intentions, it will be very helpful when you interpret what is science fiction and the theme that this exhibition shows. Modern art may be difficult to understand, however, it can be much easier with some background knowledge. English and Korean are available. (http://www.fantasy-odyssey.com)
There are many unrealistic fiction-like events in our daily life as the COVID-19 pandemic occurs. Furthermore, we are so surprised in the way science and technology things like artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and big data have developed brilliantly day by day. Fantasy became a way to feel empathy, and it also approached as art. Besides, you can find various ways to express art through science fiction. In <SF2021: A Fantasy Odyssey>, it will not only give you a unique experience visually and audibly, but also give you a chance to think about the problems of humanity that you may not have considered before. Get on the Fantasy Odyssey right now!
Dates: 2021.03.23~2021.5.30
Hours: Tues-Fri 10:00~20:00 / Weekends and holidays 10:00~19:00 / Closed every Monday / Pre-booking required
Place: SeMa, Buk-Seoul Museum of Art
Ticket Prices: Free
Contact: 02-2124-8800
[1] Since there is a virus outside, people shouldn't be too close. "The box was your father's ashes, right?" "I thought it was my father's ashes. Two years ago, my mother and he got the virus and couldn't get up." (Part of the novel used in the painting)