Yuni Kwon-The Light, Refracted Nature
May 14 - June 4, 2010
 
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The Light, Refracted Nature_ Kwon, Yuni

Park ,Young Taik (Professor at Kyounggi University, art critic)



Magically Artificial Nature

Media art nowadays, in a ray of new methods, is interweaving the joints of human concepts covering the universe, nature, reality and imagination as one. It forms an organic relationship between the universe and human, things can and can’t be seen, and it wishes for human body and sense to access and connect in multidimensional to the space. Serious introspection of human identity terminology and relationship with the nature, which are traditional art issues, are still never given up in the era of the new media. Yuni Kwon’s work, facing invisible world through video/light, directs the link between human sense and the nature into mysterious and elegant visual images. This quite meditative and even dreamy work provides new esthetic experience of mutual relationship between human body and the nature, unconscious world and soul, communication and otherness, through understated form, interesting imagination, and noble atmosphere.
It is true that technology has been around us for desire of magical wishes in a dialectic relationship rather than as scientific tools to analyze and handle the object. Video as well is a product of technology but it also is ‘a product of magic.’ As rationality and science develops, charm, mythical and spiritual things (art) are constantly called. Technology used by an artist combines rationality and sensation, skill and magic, awareness and art, the nature and human, body and sense, into a new form. Transformation is constantly repeated; the nature into the form of human body and human into the form of the nature. In this process, appeared ‘artificial nature’ is magical and arouses the viewers’ noble experience. Eventually, nobleness becomes a sort of fantasy, and the viewers experience magical and fantasy world in a form of ‘perceptional reality.’


Artificial Relationship between Nature and Human.

The artist shows an image of nature in a light form through digital projection or a monitor. The light, the new imaginative form of nature after transformation to digital information, became landscape of fantasy, artificial nature, and fancies. This dematerialized light reproduces and shines artificially mutual relationship between human spirit and the nature. The nature coincides, corresponds, and mixed with brainwaves, language, conscious and unconscious minds of human and is born into the new nature/human. The nature and human body forms an inseparable relationship and starts dancing together. The artist understands the nature as natural phenomenon and the terminology mixed with human’s psychological phenomenon at the same time. The nature and human, existing in different physical locations, appears as identities in a mutual relationship exchanging and imitating each other. The nature is personalized and the human is naturalized. They exchange their symbolic codes and amplify their natural meanings. It exposes realization that meaning of the identity exists both outside of the subject and inside different nature of the others. It permeates and wanders between human and inhuman. Recently scientists say that structure of nature and human mind is reflection of the other and they are connected with artificial symmetry. So, this work of the artist could begin at the assumption saying “mind of nature and human is in a metaphorical relationship.” Therefore, what she pays attention to is human mind that accesses and connects the two. At this point, mind is more than dichotomous boundaries like nature and human, body and soul, material and spirit. Rather than being implicit in one entity, it is spread to minds of all the living things around and erased all the boundaries. This cause led the artist’s work become ‘figure of dance’ that nature and human creates. Brainwaves and ocean waves overlap; sands and winds are mixed with letters; natural phenomenon is ignited as voice; wavelength of the whole universe beats and dances like a heart in the space of conscious and unconscious human minds. It is a fantasy showing constant unity of the universe and human sense. In fact, brain is clearly a part of nature. Thus, human sense, spirit, and nature from the brain are an inevitable unity. Understanding new sense of space and time every moment by directivity and movement of brain could integrate with Einstein’s theory of relativity. Ultimately, ‘the stage called the universe and the actor on the stage becomes one rather than different identities.’ Commonly, healthy ecosystem is dynamic harmony, balance, co-evolution, that nature and human draws together; it is realizing that the one is having an artificial relationship with Mother Nature. Yuni Kwon’s work is having conversation with nature, understanding her body’s existence in extend to nature, imagining and visualizing it. Imagining and dreaming at this point could be stated as truthful survival of human and connection to happiness (Bachelard), rather than just staying in artistic issues.


Mimesis of Nature

Mimesis is the important concept in Yuni Kwon’s work. Mimesis, generally understood as imitating, is the core of T.W. Adorno(1903 – 1969)’s esthetics. He follows the traces rather than imitating; his interest is on Mimesis act that following the trace in the process itself. It is assimilation. Adorno, against artist’s ego, obsession over purpose, and subject centered esthetics, insists that the subject has to be penetrated in order to make it an art, in other words, it’s a certain ‘joint’ that the subject and the object are concretely tangled. At this point, Mimesis directs towards active tendency that the object out of subject and ‘ontologious resemblance’ that human possess. Subject mimesising the object is imitating the status of the subject in a place of the other. Kwon mimesis nature through digital technology. Nature is mimesised in forms of light and it is either realistic or unrealistic. She mimesis the remote nature’s physical side through date-visualization. Also through unifying symbolic images of human and nature, she mimesis newly again. After this process, they, the two natures, become and give definitions each other.


Works

Yuni Kwon uses images of her own brainwave and the data from wave height of Californian waterfront during October, 2006. In , two images, symbolizing each other or visualized as equalized patterns, form a contextual relationship virtually. It is from realization that structure of nature and sense of human is connected each other by artificial symmetry that is over individual asymmetry. Kwon puts words from Virginia Wolf’s novel, ‘Waves,’ on top of the virtual wave from the data. Letters turned to waves are dancing. They are symbolic images showing flow of consciousness and waves imply endless cycle of nature’s rhythm. Wave change transformed to letter flows and emotional movement has become waves. Flow of conscious mind, which could not be understood rationally, is overlapped with cycle of wave flow. She expands metaphorical limits of nature’s nonverbal and phenomenal points through language and letters, while metaphorically visualizing irrational mentality in natural phenomenon. Through the work, projecting exceptional and unexplainable mental or physical phenomenon, she looks at herself as a visual subject and is reminded of healing action that getting to know herself.
expresses the data off of brainwave test on virtual 3D wave. Again, nature is humanized and human is naturalized. Mind of human and nature is equal. Both nature inside and outside of human exchange their symbolic codes and expand their definition of nature. In fact, subject’s meaning exists not only outside but also in nature which is another subject. All the matters in an endless abyss of the universe is connected as one this way. The world that human faces and mystery of the examining subject is unknown because paradoxically the object and we have already become one. The universe is sort of ‘a lover’ whom I become and give meanings. Therefore, what human needs is opening subject’s sensing and thinking in this infinite area of nature. Human is participating in ‘infinite dependence’ rather than reassuring human’s definite position as main subject. At the same time, it is realizing ‘breathing right here at this moment.’ It is possible through dream and imagination. Subconscious mind in between rational and unconscious sense, exploring realistic and virtual zones, is fancies. A dreamer seeks for active fusion of the main subject and the target. Through fancies, she wants to look inside of the object and reverse side of nature. She attempts to access true communication and relationship.
Message about communication with the other is shown in . Voices of reading Korean poem in Chinese and modern Korean poem in Korean is visualized as two papers. She visualizes the sounds, immaterial things. Two languages are in discordance. However, still sharing minds, love, sympathy, and longing for home, is talked about in it. Thus, it is never the other thing or world. These visualized expressions create spacious image and effects greatly on emotional amplification.
creates the space between reality and imagination composed of 9 web pictures of desert of New Mexico in Southern America. Pixels of each photo are changed with white alphabet and these letters form white sands according to brightness, resolution, and figure of the photos. Eventually it becomes nature as the third space with different spacious quality. The never been white sands is experienced virtually by two people.


The Light, Refracted Nature

Yuni Kwon’s works, faded the boundaries of reality and imagination, matter and sense, nature and human, subject and concept, are somewhat like a daydream. It is not a perfect reality like a dream during the day, not existing in complete unconscious either at the same time; it is the third nature. Kwon’s works eventually shows her interest in figures you could experience in earth scientific physical world and its sources like metaphysics. It grafts ordinary experience onto human sub/conscious minds and mimesis in the immaterial form of light. Visitors at the exhibition are led to special opportunity to experience artificial natural phenomenon. Her work, realized by sensory perception rather than linguistic transit, arouses the subject’s psychophysical experience and assures esthetic effects. Visitors attracted to mysterious visual phenomenon bringing all their senses to participate in watching, communicate with works and are left with deep impression. Her works lead visitors to surreally artificial nature. In front of queer landscape in between reality and imagination, it makes them think about relationship between human and nature. Nature, the universe, and I am connected and the world becomes one whole existence. On there, the universe and I are dancing lovers.