In December, a month when people are most sensitive to recurrence and prediction, the Seoul Museum of Art will be arranging a forum for aesthetic criticism pertaining to contemporary society which tends to depend heavily on data and statistical figures.
Two Pillars and Seven Letters is an art show that explores the nature and significance of the data that exists behind their appearance, moving beyond already exposed, pre-existing snippets of information.
The exhibition is designed to interpret the intentional logic of Saju palja (literally meaning “the four pillars and eight characters” or four pillars representing the year, month, day, and hour of one’s birth) which are used to tell the fortune of hundreds of thousands of people as a weak point of typical data in our society.
The ultimate goal of this exhibition is to reconsider contemporary society in which numeric information that draws keen attention (i.e. real estate prices, repurchase rates, and fluctuation of stock prices or bitcoin), fields such as astrology, and the four pillars of destiny are all predicated upon accumulated data and statistical figures which are only valid in limited cases and for certain purposes.
We may get a feel for the volatility of information the moment we encounter a work of art, going beyond the exhibit title and the surface of space. Viewers are advised to take time to imagine the underlying elements we have to face when viewing pieces of data which have been converted into the senses of sight, touch, and hearing at the venue.
Viewing point
Fabio Lattanzi Antinori？b. 1971, Italy, lives and works in London？Working across a range of mediums including sculpture, print and interactive installations, Fabio Lattanzi Antnori's work examines control systems of corporate and its effect on the belief systems of the individual. Fascinated by virtual shared systems and the role played by technology, his practice initially focused on issues pertaining international finance, value, currency in relation to trust and faith. More recently it grew to incorporate notions of future and forecast, across science and other disciplines. He incorporates elements of the invisible domain of digital in his works, in order to manifest that which is otherwise intangible; coded and data informed physical structures, so become a tool of investigation of the constant act of negotiation, that goes behind the system of information we call the tangible reality. His process is often collaborative and research based. So far he has worked with engineers and designers, with English and Chinese opera singers, data analysts, scientists, perfumers, economists, financial astrologers and fortune tellers. He sees collaboration as an invaluable opportunity to grow, explore and navigate the complexities of shared territories between apparently distant disciplines and rapidly changing systems.？Mirim Chu b. 1982, South Korea, lives and works in Seoul？Using design pixels as elements in her work, Mirim Chu engages in formative experiments that go beyond design and fine art. She critically explores keywords related to computer graphics, pixels, and the internet etc., and she has great interest in producing work where the cross-sectional aspect of images used in social network sites may be viewed from various angles. All her works, in particular, transform a visually hidden web-based society into a series of images, reflecting the artist's intention to directly present the digital landscape around us. As time passes, her perspective which looks at the life forms of the contemporary young generation gets brought out across a more diverse spectrum.
