How to Stop Being Korean, 2018, 2-channel video, 66 mins, commissioned by the 2018 Seoul Mediacity Biennale.

This video artwork examines the phenomenon of nationalism specific to Koreans, who mobilized “Taegeukki rallies,” also known as “Pro-Park rallies,” in support of the former President representing the conservative party, and it describes the lives of Koreans while uncovering the phenomenon’s historical origins. The theme is the artist’s belief that if a specific group has shared a common history, an incident seen as exceptional within the group would not be so, and instead would be representative of it, thus reflecting the entire group. In his works, the artist examines life in the periphery. “Periphery” refers to a remote area whose history is rewritten due to its geographical circumstances. This relationship between geographical and regional characteristics and historical narratives becomes a metaphor of images and narratives in the video media.

Despite the fact that the starting point of this important work was a unique Korean phenomenon called the “Taegeukki rallies,” the artist focused on a more comprehensive critical viewpoint that he placed over the form and context of his work. Even when viewed by non-Korean judges, the judges were able to understand the artist’s shrewd insight on the relationship between memories and perspectives based on the strong research underlying the simple format. Especially in Asia, where there is a historical context of people striving to free themselves from colonialism, a critical awareness of the entire process of the birth of nationalism has been considered to be deeply important, and in the case of this work, the judges saw that the artist connected the method of how history has been narrated via his acute observations.

One of the evaluation criteria was how the content of the artwork interacted with the exhibition space. This work in particular received a positively evaluation for this criterion as the video work generated interactions with limited sounds in the divided space where the image on the reverse side of the screen could not be seen, and the artist intentionally integrated this complex communication channel into his work. That the artist expressed the discrepancy between printed material and video and restored the function of text was recognized as a key element heightening the aesthetic aspect of the work’s form. Considering the nature of this work being shown in a major public event in a country where critical attitudes towards historical and political realities abound, the judges of the SeMA-Hana Media Art Awards expected that the selection of this work as the recipient of the media art award would help society understand how art can propose an important model of “objection.”