Gyeongnam Provincial Museum of Art

Gyeongnam Art Museum (GAM) is a public art museum representing the Gyeongnam region. As a public museum, GAM conducts research on the artistic and social contexts of the region and shares the results with the citizens. Launched in 2016, N ARTIST is a biennial exhibition program to discover and present young artists from the Gyeongnam region. The capitalized ‘N’ in the title of the exhibition is an abbreviation with multiple layers of meanings, which can indicate ‘new,’ ‘neo,’ ‘non,’ or ‘next’ among others. The project as a whole is designed to focus on the artists who present fresh perspectives through their practice and dare to take on experiments without hesitation.

Celebrating the third edition of the annual program, N ARTIST has encountered a number of questions to reflect on: Hasn’t it been focusing on the act of mere recognition of local artists, practicing the authority of a public institution? Is it playing a role of a platform that supports emerging young emerging artists and their autonomous activities? What impact is such an institutional action giving to the artistic landscape of the Gyeongnam region? And if the program is making certain changes, is the museum proactively reacting to them? Therefore, "N ARTIST 2021：Working with Uncertainties" maintains its format as an exhibition program with an aim to support the sustainable creative activities of the participating artists. However, there are additional alternative elements to the program, based on the examination of its process and method.

First of all, the scope of artist research has been expanded with more flexible criteria. The change has been made in order to discover emerging artists who are relatively unknown. In addition, the museum facilitated exchanges between the artists and critics who are actively working in the field, exposing the participating artists to a broader range of audiences. Rather than focusing on the production quality of artworks or an exhibition as the final result, this year’s N ARTIST program intends to enrich the perspectives on the artists’ practices. A series of artist interviews and a conversation are organized to materialize the intention.

The four participating artists to "N ARTIST 2021：Working with Uncertainties" are Ru KIM, JeongWon EOM, SungLyuk LEE, and SeungJoon CHOI. The subtitle of the exhibition, which is paraphrased in English translation as “working with uncertainties,” reads as “songs by stones in disbelief.” The subtitle combines different words, which represent the shared sensibilities of the artistic attitudes of the participants. ‘Disbelief’ is a word that might easily be associated with negative meanings. However, its dictionary definition directs to a ‘state of mind with which one cannot believe something because of the lack of concrete knowledge.’ Throughout the process of the program, the essential drive for creative activities has been considered as the attitude of refusing to accept the given environment and rethinking alternatives.

The four artists capture what they repeatedly encounter yet have become indifferent in everyday life, bringing them in front of us. They also unfold deep reflections on the invisible forces beneath the surface. ‘Songs by stones’ is a metaphor for a gesture that continuously questions the other side of the world that surrounds the self and ceaselessly materializes what one has sensed from there. If one tries to see the life and the world through new senses with the artworks in the exhibition, one might be reminded of an unrealistic moment that often occurs in everyday life where a small piece of stone lying on the ground – a moment in which little things like a piece of stone lying on the ground, which we often overlook with indifference, silently utters a song of its own.

With the opening of the exhibition, I would like to express my sincere support for Ru KIM, JeongWon EOM, SungLyuk LEE, and SeungJoon CHOI, who are continuing their bold steps without the fear of change. Last but not least, I would like to express my hope that the exhibition would serve as an opportunity to see the new trends and possibilities of art in the Gyeongnam region, providing vital energy to the local art scene.