Kyungwoo Chun’s works are based on situations and encounters revolving around the concept of empathy. With his two works for Helsinki Biennial, he wishes to remind us of the importance of speaking and listening.
Kyungwoo Chun (b. 1969) is a Seoul-based artist who attained international recognition through his photographic portraits. Since the early 2000s, performance has risen parallel to his photography — both temporally limited processes. Chun has exhibited in many solo and group exhibitions in Europe and Korea, and his performances have taken place across Europe, and in Seoul, Mumbai, and New York. Essential to his practice is the sensitization to an altered perception of time and the intensification of a dialogue with oneself and others.
Kyungwoo Chun’s works are based on situations and encounters revolving around the concept of empathy. With his two works for Helsinki Biennial, he wishes to remind us of the importance of speaking and listening, especially during this age when our lives are ruled by a constant barrage of information, social media and consumerism.
Chun seeks to reinstate the role of the listener and narrator, inviting us to use our imagination and encounter both ourselves and others. Co-created with the exhibition visitors, he will produce two installations for Vallisaari Island as participatory pieces: Bird Listener and Islands of Island.
Kyungwoo Chun: Bird Listener, 2021 ©Maija Toivanen/HAM/Helsinki Biennial 2021
Bird Listener, 2021
When visiting the island, Chun was inspired by the birds he could hear, but could only see in fleeting glimpses. For Bird Listener, he selected five of the many bird species found on the island. The artist asks visitors to select one bird they can hear, imagine how it looks, and then draw its silhouette. He then asks them to add a caption stating the name of the person they regard as their best listener. As the weeks pass, the walls of the room will fill up with bird drawings.
Kyungwoo Chun: Islands of Island, 2021 ©Maija Toivanen/HAM/Helsinki Biennial 2021
Islands of Island, 2021
In this work Chun asks visitors to write a letter to someone who is eager to hear from them. The letters are to be written on red pieces of cloth, after which the writer wraps the cloth around something found on the island: a twig, leaf, pebble, or clump of earth. The letters will remain anonymous, their content hidden from all eyes but the writer’s. Gradually the small red bundles will fill the grassy field in front of the Alexander Battery.
Photo 1: Matti Pyykkö/Helsinki Biennial 2021
Kyungwoo Chun
Bird Listener
2021
Performance and installation Sound, drawing
Bird song recordings: www.xeno-canto.org / Tero Linjama XC346468, XC346049; Markku Miettinen XC408061; Eetu Paljakka XC378243, XC316774; Hannu Varkki XC489896
Commissioned by HAM/Helsinki Biennial 2021
Islands of Island
2021
Installation based on performance
Commissioned by HAM/Helsinki Biennial 2021