The place that has no name (2021)
이름 없는 곳 (2021)
Our ongoing project, 'Where is my territory?', explores the elusive concept of 'terra incognita'—the unknown land—both as a geographical phenomenon and a deeply personal experience. Stemming from our initial exhibition, 'A rental car is running (租來的車 正在奔馳)', showcased at the Digital Art Center, Taipei in 2019, our upcoming production delves deeper into this exploration.
Envisioned as a video/sound installation, our work immerses viewers in a multidimensional experience. A 3D animation projected on adjacent walls creates a continuous landscape, while partitions within the space represent surrounding elements, blurring the boundaries between reality and imagination. Within this immersive environment, fragmented memories take shape, resonating with viewers on a visceral level. Though devoid of geopolitical significance, our simulated scenes evoke a vast wilderness, inviting viewers to ponder the complexities of existence within the unknown.
Amidst the pandemic, we sought to redefine the creative process, transcending the limitations of traditional installation art. Our exploration of 'terra' and its recurring patterns throughout history serves as a testament to resilience and adaptation in the face of adversity. Central to our installation is the interplay between real and virtual spaces. Seamless transitions between the two realms blur distinctions, inviting viewers to question the nature of perception and reality. As the 3D animation loops endlessly, viewers are drawn into a Sisyphean journey, mirroring the cyclical nature of the human experience.
While our installation offers a theatrical atmosphere, it is not strictly participatory; rather, it serves as a collective memory, bridging the gap between the tangible and the imagined. Through the simplicity and humility of daily life, we uncover the profound beauty inherent in the mundane. Ultimately, our work prompts viewers to contemplate their own relationship with the unknown, inviting them to explore the boundless divisions within the human psyche. As we navigate the complexities of existence, may we find solace in the enduring persistence of life's transient moments.
– Bang & Lee, April 2021
“This bleak atmosphere is echoed in Korean duo Bang & Lee (Bang Jayoung and Lee Yunjun)’s installation The Place That Has No Name (2021), which inhabits the disembodied gaze of popular first-person-shooter games in an arid wasteland. With a familiar, frenzied camera suggesting violence—as though a gun could go o� at any second—the carcasses of grain silos, shacks, and filling stations are the lone antagonists, with the quiet insinuation of a long and empty future.”
— Christopher Whitfield, June 2022
(Excerpt from the review Taichung: 2021 Asian Art Biennial, ArtAsiaPacific magazine, ISSUE June 13, 2022)
The South Korean artist duo Bang & Lee is known for often using various media and technological materials to produce art projects, which are sarcastic comments on contemporary life and its absurdities. With projects that connect and intervene in global metropolitans, the artist duo has developed a series of highly interactive projects featuring urban space. Their works focus on the effects of social networks and technologies while creating an interactive and immersive environment for the audience through collaborations and friendly formats.
For the Asian Art Biennial, Bang & Lee specially creates a new work, titled The place that has no name, which can be viewed as a continuation from A Rental Car is Running, a previous work featured in After Our Dear Country Failed, curated by curator Nobuo Takamori at the Taipei Digital Art Center in 2019. The place that has no name revolves around “terra incognita”, a creative concept that has been developed by the artist duo for a long time. Using multi-channel video, animation and 3D printed sculpture, a theatrical installation is produced, which serves as the artist duo’s response to the surreal situations they have experienced personally. Arranged by Bang & Lee, the fragmentary landscapes and memories that are private, absurd yet from real experiences become representational fragments and puzzles. For the artists, their work is not an attempt to respond to geopolitics, nor does it convey any abstract implication. Instead, the “terra” explored in their work is appropriately given a new space for interpretation in this era of the pandemic.
– Nobuo Takamori, July 2021
Independent curator and the chief curator of the 8th Asian Art Biennial Asian Art Biennial - Phantasmopolis, National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, 2021
3채널 영상 프로젝션 (4분 4초), 4.1 채널 사운드, 월텍스트, 드로잉, 파스텔 페인팅, 3D 애니메이션, 3D 프린팅 도자기 오브젝트, 원형 테이블
트랙백
MPEG-4 movie, AAC, H.264, 7680× 1440, 4.1ch, 04:04
2021 아시안 아트 비엔날레 - 판타스마폴리스
이미지 제공: 작가 및 국립대만미술관
*본 프로젝트는 〈나의 영토는 어디인가?〉 연작의 일부입니다.
Three-channel video/sound installation with projectors (04:04), 4.1 sound system, wall text, drawings, pastel paintings, 3D animation, 3D printed ceramic objects, round table
Trackback
MPEG-4 movie, AAC, H.264, 7680× 1440, 4.1ch, 04:04
2021 Asian Art Biennial - Phantasmapolis
Image Courtesy of the artist and National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts
*This project is made from the series 'Where is my territory?'