Choi Keeryong – Artist Talk

Posted on 03/03/2016 Updated on 03/03/2016

I recently attended an artist talk which featured Choi Keeryong and his glass artwork. Keeryong works with the theme of ‘aesthetics of the cultural uncanny’ and how moving country has affected his life. Keeryong explained that he had a language barrier and that it affects him through day to day life; and how he uses his disadvantage as an advantage.

One of keeryong’s pieces that really grabbed my attention was ‘3^rd Battalion 11^th Company 1^st platoon’ (2007). This piece exhibited a set of glass military helmets, all lined up in formation. The glass of the helmets where coloured in basic dark green, but the viewer could still see through the glass. Under the glass where civilian clothing, wrapped in brown parcel paper tied with sting. The reason behind the clothes was because the country where Keeryong was born, they have a tradition that when you graduate through military training, you removed you civilian clothing o transition to military uniform; this transition gives the graduated a new identity while leaving behind the old one. The civilian clothes are then sent to the families of the graduate, to notify the family that they have passed.

I’m very intrigued by this cultural experience, and how Keeryong has displayed it. The clothes representing the person underneath the uniform, and that you can barely see the clothes through the glass. The room in which this piece was exhibited was a small compact room, the reason for the room was to give the viewer the feeling of leading the troops to war, or to give commands. I’m just so intrigued in the cultural difference and the intimate relation of identities.