To our contemporaries, the car is more than a practical means of transportation invented to make life more convenient. Like living organisms, cars have life cycles in which they are created, used, and disposed. Through the continuous repetition of this life cycle, cars have produced and represented a range of different concepts in our society, including modernization, speed, freedom and human desires to consume. In this sense, cars are our companions that transform our ways of life and attitude towards life.
brilliant memories: with is an exhibition co-organized by Seoul Museum of Art and Hyundai Motor Company with the goal of introducing these novel, expanded meanings of cars in our society. As hinted in the title of the exhibition “with,” we aim to open up opportunities for the audience to confirm the special journey of companionship between cars and humans through artworks created with contemporary artists’ imaginations and creativity. We also hope to urge the audience to think outside the frame of simply defining cars based on their practical functions and encourage them to understand cars as vehicles through which we interact with our own lives, society, history, reality and the world.
Twelve participating artists have produced artworks by drawing inspirations from cars that are nearing disposal. Some works show the life of the car owner and invite the audience to look into the owner’s memories of the car. Other works convey various messages including thoughts on human emotions, insight on life and cultural differences, based on personal experiences tied to cars, while other works are artistic reinterpretations of abstract concepts such as industrialization, journey and mobility. In the process of artistic recreation, cars take on the role of man’s creative companions. At the same time, they become objects that narrate the stories of our lives, reflect our society and help us interact with the world.
brilliant memories: with aims to expand the audience’s understanding of cars that have become a part of our lives. We hope that this exhibition will help you take the definition of the car beyond its practical function and rediscover cars as life-long companions of artists, visitors and everyone in the world.